Ex  Libris 
C.  K.  OGDEN 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


HAYING    IN    THE    MEADOW 


AMONG  THE  MEADOW  PEOPLE 


CLARA  DILLINGHAM  PlERSON 


Illustrated  by  F.  C.  GORDON 


NEW  AND  ENLARGED   EDITION 


NEW  YORK 
E.  P.  DUTTON  &  COMPANY 

31  WEST  TWENTY-THIRD  STREET 


COPYRIGHT 
E.  P.  DUTTON  &  CO. 


COPYRIGHT 

CLARA  DILLINGHAM  PIERSOS 
1901 


Vbe  Knickerbocker  (trees,  flew  fiord 


QL 

7*11 


CONTENTS. 


PACK 

INTRODUCTION •  5 

THE  BUTTERFLY  THAT  WENT  CALLING   .            .  1 

THE  ROBINS  BUILD  A   NEST       ....  14 

THE  SELFISH  TENT-CATERPILLAR    ...  22 

THE  LAZY  SNAIL 31 

AN  ANT  THAT  WORE  WINGS  ....  37 
THE  CHEERFUL  HARVESTMEN             ...  42 
THE  LITTLE  SPIDER'S  FIRST  WEB      ...  50 
THE    BEETLE    WHO    DID    NOT   LIKE   CATERPIL- 
LARS          56 

THE  YOUNG  ROBIN  WHO  WAS  AFRAID  TO  FLY.  6l 

THE  CRICKETS'  SCHOOL 71 

THE  CONTENTED  EARTHWORMS      ...  76 

THE  MEASURING  WORM'S  JOKE          .            .  8 1 

A  PUZZLED  CICADA 87 

THE  TREE  FROG'S  STORY           ....  93 

THE  DAY  WHEN  THE  GRASS  WAS  CUT       .            .  IOI 
THE  GRASSHOPPER  AND  THE  MEASURING  WORM 

RUN  A  RACE 109 

MR.   GREEN  FROG  AND  HIS  VISITORS  .  .114 

THE  DIGNIFIED  WALKING-STICKS     .            .            .  I2O 

3 


1023386 


4  Contents. 

PAGE 

THE  DAY  OF  THE  GREAT  STORM       .  .  .128 

THE  STORY  OF  LILY-PAD  ISLAND     .  .  .  134 

THE       GRASSHOPPER       WHO       WOULD  N'T       BE 

SCARED  .  142 

THE  EARTHWORM  HALF-BROTHERS  .  15! 

A  GOSSIPING  FLY 156 

THE  FROG-HOPPERS  GO  OUT  INTO  THE  WORLD.  l6l 
THE   MOSQUITO    TRIES    TO    TEACH    HIS   NEIGH- 
BORS           171 

THE  FROG  WHO  THOUGHT  HERSELF  SICK         .  177 

THE  KATYDID'S  QUARREL       ....  183 

THE  LAST  PARTY  OF  THE  SEASON    .  1 88 


INTRODUCTION. 


MANY  of  these  stories  of  field  life  were 
written  for  the  little  ones  of  my  kinder- 
garten, and  they  gave  so  much  pleasure, 
and  aroused 'such  a  new  interest  in  "the 
meadow  people,"  that  it  has  seemed  wise 
to  collect  and  add  to  the  original  number 
and  send  them  out  to  a  larger  circle  of 
boys  and  girls. 

All  mothers  and  teachers  hear  the  cry 
for  "just  one  more,"  and  find  that  there 
are  times  when  the  bewitching  tales  of 
animals,  fairies,  and  "  really  truly  "  children 
are  all  exhausted,  and  tired  imagination 
will  not  supply  another.  In  selecting  the 
tiny  creatures  of  field  and  garden  for  the 
characters  in  this  book,  I  have  remem- 
bered with  pleasure  the  way  in  which  my 

5 


6  Introduction. 

loyal  pupils  befriended  stray  crickets  and 
grasshoppers,  their  intense  appreciation  of 
the  new  realm  of  fancy  and  observation, 
and  the  eagerness  and  attention  with  which 
they  sought  Mother  Nature,  the  most  won- 
derful and  tireless  of  all  story-tellers. 

CLARA  DILLINGHAM  PIERSON. 

Stanton,  Michigan, 
April  8th,  1897. 


WENT  CALL1NO 

As  the  warm  August  days 
came,  Mr.  Yellow  Butterfly 
wriggled  and  pushed  in  his 
snug  little  green  chrysalis  and 
wished  he  could  get  out  to  see 
the  world.  He  remembered 
the  days  when  he  was  a  hairy 
little  Caterpillar,  crawling 
slowly  over  grass  and  leaves, 
and  he  remembered  how  beau- 
tiful the  sky  and  all  the  flowers 
were.  Then  he  thought  of 
the  new  wings  which  had  been 
growing  from  his  back,  and  he 

7 


8          Among  the  Meadow  People. 

tried  to  move  them,  just  to  see  how  it 
would  feel.  He  had  only  six  legs  since 
his  wings  grew,  and  he  missed  all  the 
sticky  feet  which  he  had  to  give  up  when 
he  began  to  change  into  a  Butterfly. 

The  more  he  thought  about  it  the  more 
he  squirmed,  until  suddenly  he  heard  a 
faint  little  sound,  too  faint  for  larger 
people  to  hear,  and  found  a  tiny  slit  in 
the  wall  of  his  chrysalis.  It  was  such  a 
dainty  green  chrysalis  with  white  wrinkles, 
that  it  seemed  almost  a  pity  to  have  it 
break.  Still  it  had  held  him  for  eight 
days  already  and  that  was  as  long  as  any 
of  his  family  ever  hung  in  the  chrysalis, 
so  it  was  quite  time  for  it  to  be  torn  open 
and  left  empty.  Mr.  Yellow  Butterfly 
belonged  to  the  second  brood  that  had 
hatched  that  year  and  he  wanted  to  be 
out  while  the  days  were  still  fine  and  hot. 
Now  he  crawled  out  of  the  newly-opened 
doorway  to  take  his  first  flight. 

Poor  Mr.  Butterfly  !  He  found  his  wings 


The  Butterfly  that  Went  Calling.      9 

so  wet  and  crinkled  that  they  would  n't 
work  at  all,  so  he  had  to  sit  quietly  in  the 
sunshine  all  day  drying  them.  And  just 
as  they  got  big,  and  smooth,  and  dry,  it 
grew  dark,  and  Mr.  Butterfly  had  to  crawl 
under  a  leaf  to  sleep. 

The  next  morning,  bright  and  early,  he 
flew  away  to  visit  the  flowers.  First  he 
stopped  to  see  the  Daisies  by  the  road- 
side. They  were  all  dancing  in  the  wind, 
and  their  bright  faces  looked  as  cheerful 
as  anyone  could  wish.  They  were  glad 
to  see  Mr.  Butterfly,  and  wished  him  to 
stay  all  day  with  them.  He  said:  "You 
are  very  kind,  but  I  really  could  n't  think 
of  doing  it.  You  must  excuse  my  saying 
it,  but  I  am  surprised  to  think  you  will 
grow  here.  It  is  very  dusty  and  dry,  and 
then  there  is  no  shade.  I  am  sure  I  could 
have  chosen  a  better  place." 

The  Daisies  smiled  and  nodded  to  each 
other,  saying,  "  This  is  the  kind  of  place 
we  were  made  for,  that 's  all." 


io        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

Mr.  Butterfly  shook  his  head  very  doubt- 
fully, and  then  bade  them  a  polite  "  Good- 
morning,"  and  flew  away  to  call  on  the 
Cardinals. 

The  Cardinals  are  a  very  stately  family, 
as  everybody  knows.  They  hold  their 
heads  very  high,  and  never  make  deep 
bows,  even  to  the  wind,  but  for  all  that 
they  are  a  very  pleasant  family  to  meet. 
They  gave  Mr.  Butterfly  a  dainty  lunch 
of  honey,  and  seemed  much  pleased  when 
he  told  them  how  beautiful  the  river 
looked  in  the  sunlight. 

"  It  is  a  delightful  place  to  grow,"  said 
they. 

"  Ye-es,"  said  Mr.  Butterfly,  "  it  is  very 
pretty,  still  I  do  not  think  it  can  be  health- 
ful. I  really  cannot  understand  why  you 
flowers  choose  such  strange  homes.  Now, 
there  are  the  Daisies,  where  I  just  called. 
They  are  in  a  dusty,  dry  place,  where  there 
is  no  shade  at  all.  I  spoke  to  them  about 
it,  and  they  acted  quite  uppish." 


The  Butterfly  that  Went  Calling.     1 1 

"  But  the  Daisies  always  do  choose  such 
places,"  said  the  Cardinals. 

"  And  your  family,"  said  Mr.  Butterfly, 
"  have  lived  so  long  in  wet  places  that  it 
is  a  wonder  you  are  alive.  Your  color  is 
good,  but  to  stand  with  one's  roots  in 
water  all  the  time  !  It  is  shocking." 

"  Cardinals  and  Butterflies  live  differ- 
ently," said  the  flowers.  "  Good-morn- 
ing." 

Mr.  Butterfly  left  the  river  and  flew 
over  to  the  woods.  He  was  very  much 
out  of  patience.  He  was  so  angry  that 
his  feelers  quivered,  and  now  you  know 
how  angry  he  must  have  been.  He  knew 
that  the  Violets  were  a  very  agreeable 
family,  who  never  put  on  airs,  so  he  went 
at  once  to  them. 

He  had  barely  said  "Good-morning" 
to  them  when  he  began  to  explain  what 
had  displeased  him. 

"  To  think,"  he  said,  "  what  notions 
some  flowers  have !  Now,  you  have  a 


12        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

pleasant  home  here  in  the  edge  of  the 
woods.  I  have  been  telling  the  Daisies 
and  the  Cardinals  that  they  should  grow 
in  such  a  place,  but  they  would  n't 
listen  to  me.  The  Daisies  were  quite 
uppish  about  it,  and  the  Cardinals  were 
very  stiff." 

"  My  dear  friend,"  answered  a  Violet, 
"  they  could  never  live  if  they  moved  up 
into  our  neighborhood.  Every  flower  has 
his  own  place  in  this  world,  and  is  happiest 
in  that  place.  Everything  has  its  own 
place  and  its  own  work,  and  every  flower 
that  is  wise  will  stay  in  the  place  for  which 
it  was  intended.  You  were  exceedingly 
kind  to  want  to  help  the  flowers,  but  sup- 
pose they  had  been  telling  you  what  to 
do.  Suppose  the  Cardinals  had  told  you 
that  flying  around  was  not  good  for  your 
health,  and  that  to  be  truly  well  you 
ought  to  grow  planted  with  your  legs  in 
the  mud  and  water." 

"Oh!"   said    Mr.    Butterfly,     "  Oh !    I 


The  Butterfly  that  Went  Calling.     13 

never  thought  of  that.  Perhaps  Butter- 
flies don't  know  everything." 

"  No,"  said  the  Violet,  "  they  don't  know 
everything,  and  you  have  n't  been  out  of 
your  chrysalis  very  long.  But  those  who 
are  ready  to  learn  can  always  find  some- 
one to  tell  them.  Won't  you  eat  some 
honey  ? " 

And  Mr.  Butterfly  sipped  honey  and 
was  happy. 


THE  ROBINS  BUILD  A  NEST. 

WHEN  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Robin  built  in  the 
spring,  they  were  not  quite  agreed  as  to 
where  the  nest  should  be.  Mr.  Robin 
was  a  very  decided  bird,  and  had  made 
up  his  mind  that  the  lowest  crotch  of  a 
maple  tree  would  be  the  best  place.  He 
even  went  so  far  as  to  take  three  billfuls 
of  mud  there,  and  stick  in  two  blades  of 
dry  grass.  Mrs.  Robin  wanted  it  on  the 
end  of  the  second  rail  from  the  top  of 
the  split-rail  fence.  She  said  it  was  high 
enough  from  the  ground  to  be  safe  and 
dry,  and  not  so  high  that  a  little  bird 
falling  out  of  it  would  hurt  himself  very 
much.  Then,  too,  the  top  rail  was  broad 
at  the  end  and  would  keep  the  rain  off 
so  well. 

14 


The  Robins  Build  a  Nest.  15 

"  And  the  nest  will  be  just  the  color 
of  the  rails,"  said  she,  "  so  that  even  a 
Red  Squirrel  could  hardly  see  it."  She 
disliked  Red  Squirrels,  and  she  had 
reason  to,  for  she  had  been  married  be- 
fore, and  if  it  had  not  been  for  a  Red 
Squirrel,  she  might  already  have  had 
children  as  large  as  she  was. 

"  I  say  that  the  tree  is  the  place  for  it," 
said  Mr.  Robin,  "  and  I  wear  the  bright- 
est breast  feathers."  He  said  this  because 
in  bird  families  the  one  who  wears  the 
brightest  breast  feathers  thinks  he  has 
the  right  to  decide  things. 

Mrs.  Robin  was  wise  enough  not  to 
answer  back  when  he  spoke  in  this  way. 
She  only  shook  her  feathers,  took  ten 
quick  running  steps,  tilted  her  body  for- 
ward, looked  hard  at  the  ground,  and 
pulled  out  something  for  supper.  After 
that  she  fluttered  around  the  maple  tree 
crotch  as  though  she  had  never  thought 
of  any  other  place.  Mr.  Robin  wished 


1 6        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

he  had  not  been  quite  so  decided,  or 
reminded  her  of  his  breast  feathers. 
"  After  all,"  thought  he,  "  I  don't  know 
but  the  fence-rail  would  have  done."  He 
thought  this,  but  he  did  n't  say  it.  It  is 
not  always  easy  for  a  Robin  to  give  up 
and  let  one  with  dull  breast  feathers  know 
that  he  thinks  himself  wrong. 

That  night  they  perched  in  the  maple- 
tree  and  slept  with  their  heads  under 
their  wings.  Long  before  the  sun  was 
in  sight,  when  the  first  beams  were  just 
touching  the  tops  of  the  forest  trees,  they 
awakened,  bright-eyed  and  rested,  preened 
their  feathers,  sang  their  morning  song, 
"  Cheerily,  cheerily,  cheer-up,"  and  flew 
off  to  find  food.  After  breakfast  they 
began  to  work  on  the  nest.  Mrs.  Robin 
stopped  often  to  look  and  peck  at  the 
bark.  "  It  will  take  a  great  deal  of  mud," 
said  she,  "  to  fill  in  that  deep  crotch  until 
we  reach  a  place  wide  enough  for  the 
nest." 


The  Robins  Build  a  Nest.  17 

At  another  time  she  said :  "My  dear, 
I  am  afraid  that  the  dry  grass  you  are 
bringing  is  too  light-colored.  It  shows 
very  plainly  against  the  maple  bark. 
Can't  you  find  some  that  is  darker  ?  " 

Mr.  Robin  hunted  and  hunted,  but 
could  find  nothing  which  was  darker.  As 
he  flew  past  the  fence,  he  noticed  that  it 
was  almost  the  color  of  the  grass  in  his 
bill. 

After  a  while,  soft  gray  clouds  began  to 
cover  the  sky.  "  I  wonder,"  said  Mrs. 
Robin,  "if  it  will  rain  before  we  get  this 
done.  The  mud  is  soft  enough  now  to 
work  well,  and  this  place  is  so  open  that 
the  rain  might  easily  wash  away  all  that 
we  have  done." 

It  did  rain,  however,  and  very  soon. 
The  great  drops  came  down  so  hard  that 
one  could  only  think  of  pebbles  falling. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Robin  oiled  their  feathers 
as  quickly  as  they  could,  taking  the  oil 
from  their  back  pockets  and  putting  it 


1 8        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

onto  their  feathers  with  their  bills.  This 
made  the  finest  kind  of  waterproof  and 
was  not  at  all  heavy  to  wear.  When  the 
rain  was  over  they  shook  themselves  and 
looked  at  their  work. 

"  I  believe,"  said  Mrs.  Robin  to  her 
husband,  "that  you  are  right  in  saying 
that  we  might  better  give  up  this  place 
and  begin  over  again  somewhere  else." 

Now  Mr.  Robin  could  not  remember 
having  said  that  he  thought  anything  of 
the  sort,  and  he  looked  very  sharply  at 
his  wife,  and  cocked  his  black  head  on 
one  side  until  all  the  black  and  white 
streaks  on  his  throat  showed.  She  did 
not  seem  to  know  that  he  was  watching 
her  as  she  hopped  around  the  partly  built 
nest,  poking  it  here  and  pushing  it  there, 
and  trying  her  hardest  to  make  it  look 
right.  He  thought  she  would  say  some- 
thing, but  she  did  n't.  Then  he  knew  he 
must  speak  first.  He  flirted  his  tail  and 
tipped  his  head  and  drew  some  of  his 


The  Robins  Build  a  Nest.  19 

brown  wing-feathers  through  his  bill. 
Then  he  held  himself  very  straight  and 
tall,  and  said,  "  Well,  if  you  do  agree  with 
me,  I  think  you  might  much  better  stop 
working  here  and  begin  in  another  place." 

"  It  seems  almost  too  bad,"  said  she. 
"  Of  course  there  are  other  places, 
but " 

By  this  time  Mr.  Robin  knew  exactly 
what  to  do.  "  Plenty  of  them,"  said  he. 
"  Now  don't  fuss  any  longer  with  this. 
That  place  on  the  rail  fence  is  an  excellent 
one.  I  wonder  that  no  other  birds  have 
taken  it."  As  he  spoke  he  flew  ahead  to 
the  very  spot  which  Mrs.  Robin  had  first 
chosen. 

She  was  a  very  wise  bird,  and  knew  far 
too  much  to  say,  "  I  told  you  so."  Say- 
ing that,  you  know,  always  makes  things 
go  wrong.  She  looked  at  the  rail  fence, 
ran  along  the  top  of  it,  toeing  in  prettily 
as  she  ran,  looked  around  in  a  surprised 
way,  and  said,  "  Oh,  that  place  ?  " 


2O        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

"Yes,  Mrs.  Robin,"  said  her  husband, 
"  that  place.  Do  you  see  anything  wrong 
about  it  ?  " 

"  No-o,"  she  said.  "  I  think  I  could 
make  it  do." 

Before  long  another  nest  was  half  built, 
and  Mrs.  Robin  was  working  away  in  the 
happiest  manner  possible,  stopping  every 
little  while  to  sing  her  afternoon  song  : 
"  Do  you  think  what  you  do  ?  Do  you 
think  what  you  do?  Do  you  thi-ink?" 

Mr.  Robin  was  also  at  work,  and  such 
billfuls  of  mud,  such  fine  little  twigs,  and 
such  big  wisps  of  dry  grass  as  went  into 
that  home  !  Once  Mr.  Robin  was  gone  a 
long  time,  and  when  he  came  back  he  had 
a  beautiful  piece  of  white  cotton  string 
dangling  from  his  beak.  That  they  put 
on  the  outside.  "Not  that  we  care  to 
show  off,"  said  they,  "  but  somehow  that 
seemed  to  be  the  best  place  to  put  it." 

Mr.  Robin  was  very  proud  of  his  nest 
and  of  his  wife.  He  never  went  far  away 


The  Robins  Build  a  Nest.          21 

if  he  could  help  it.  Once  she  heard  him 
'tell  Mr.  Goldfinch  that,  "  Mrs.  Robin  was 
very  sweet  about  building  where  he  chose, 
and  that  even  after  he  insisted  on  chang- 
ing places  from  the  tree  to  the  fence  she 
was  perfectly  good-natured." 

"  Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Robin  to  Mrs.  Gold- 
finch, "  I  was  perfectly  good-natured." 
Then  she  gave  a  happy,  chirpy  little  laugh, 
and  Mrs.  Goldfinch  laughed,  too.  They 
were  perfectly  contented  birds,  even  if  they 
did  n't  wear  the  brightest  breast  feathers 
or  insist  on  having  their  own  way.  And 
Mrs.  Robin  had  been  married  before. 


THE  SELFISH  TENT-CATER- 
PILLAR. 

ONE  could  hardly  call  the  Tent-Cater- 
pillars meadow  people,  for  they  did  not 
often  leave  their  trees  to  crawl  upon  the 
ground.  Yet  the  Apple-Tree  Tent-Cater- 
pillars would  not  allow  anybody  to  call 
them  forest  people.  "  We  live  on  apple 
and  wild  cherry  trees,"  they  said,  "and 
you  will  almost  always  find  us  in  the 
orchards  or  on  the  roadside  trees.  There 
are  Forest  Tent-Caterpillars,  but  please 
don't  get  us  mixed  with  them.  We  be- 
long to  another  branch  of  the  family,  the 
Apple-Tree  branch." 

The  Tree  Frog  said  that  he  remembered 
perfectly  well  when  the  eggs  were  laid  on 
the  wild  cherry  tree  on  the  edge  of  the 


The  Selfish  Tent-Caterpillar.         23 

meadow.  "It  was  early  last  summer," 
he  said,  "  and  the  Moth  who  laid  them  was 
a  very  agreeable  reddish-brown  person, 
about  as  large  as  a  common  Yellow  But- 
terfly. I  remember  that  she  had  two  light 
yellow  lines  on  each  forewing.  Another 
Moth  came  with  her,  but  did  not  stay. 
He  was  smaller  than  she,  and  had  the 
same  markings.  After  he  had  gone,  she 
asked  me  if  we  were  ever  visited  by  the 
Yellow-Billed  Cuckoos." 

"Why  did  she  ask  that?"  said  the 
Garter  Snake. 

"  Don't  you  know  ? "  exclaimed  the 
Tree  Frog.  And  then  he  whispered 
something  to  the  Garter  Snake. 

The  Garter  Snake  wriggled  with  sur- 
prise and  cried,  "  Really  ?  " 

All  through  the  fall  and  winter  the 
many,  many  eggs  which  the  reddish- 
brown  Moth  had  laid  were  kept  snug  and 
warm  on  the  twig  where  she  had  put  them. 
They  were  placed  in  rows  around  the 


24        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

twig,  and  then  well  covered  to  hold  them 
together  and  keep  them  warm.  The 
winter  winds  had  blown  the  twig  to  and 
fro,  the  cold  rain  had  frozen  over  them, 
the  soft  snowflakes  had  drifted  down  from 
the  clouds  and  covered  them,  only  to  melt 
and  trickle  away  again  in  shining  drops. 
One  morning  the  whole  wild  cherry  tree 
was  covered  with  beautiful  long,  glistening 
crystals  of  hoar-frost ;  and  still  the  ring 
of  eggs  stayed  in  its  place  around  the 
twig,  and  the  life  in  them  slept  until 
spring  sunbeams  should  shine  down  and 
quicken  it. 

But  when  the  spring  sunbeams  did 
come  !  Even  before  the  leaf-buds  were 
open,  tiny  Larvae,  or  Caterpillar  babies, 
came  crawling  from  the  ring  of  eggs  and 
began  feeding  upon  the  buds.  They 
took  very,  very  small  bites,  and  that 
looked  as  though  they  were  polite  chil- 
dren. Still,  you  know,  their  mouths  were 
so  small  that  they  could  not  take  big  ones, 


The  Selfish  Tent-Caterpillar.         25 

and  it  may  not  have  been  politeness  after 
all  which  made  them  eat  daintily. 

When  all  the  Tent-Caterpillars  were 
hatched,  and  they  had  eaten  every  leaf- 
bud  near  the  egg-ring,  they  began  fo 
crawl  down  the  tree  toward  the  trunk. 
Once  they  stopped  by  a  good-sized  crotch 
in  the  branches.  "  Let 's  build  here," 
said  the  leader ;  "  this  place  is  all  right." 

Then  some  of  the  Tent-Caterpillars 
said,  "  Let 's  ! "  and  some  of  them  said, 
"  Don't  let 's  !  "  One  young  fellow  said, 
"  Aw,  come  on  !  There  's  a  bigger  crotch 
farther  down."  Of  course  he  should  have 
said,  "  I  think  you  will  like  a  larger  crotch 
better,"  but  he  was  young,  and,  you  know, 
these  Larvae  had  no  father  or  mother  to 
help  them  speak  in  the  right  way.  They 
were  orphans,  and  it  is  wonderful  how 
they  ever  learned  to  talk  at  all. 

After  this,  some  of  the  Tent-Caterpil- 
lars went  on  to  the  larger  crotch  and 
some  stayed  behind.  More  went  than 


26        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

stayed,  and  when  they  saw  this,  those  by 
the  smaller  crotch  gave  up  and  joined 
their  brothers  and  sisters,  as  they  should 
have  done.  It  was  right  to  do  that 
which  pleased  most  of  them. 

It  took  a  great  deal  of  work  to  make 
the  tent.  All  helped,  spinning  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  white  silken  threads, 
laying  them  side  by  side,  criss-crossing 
them,  fastening  the  ends  to  branches  and 
twigs,  not  forgetting  to  leave  places 
through  which  one  could  crawl  in  and 
out.  They  never  worked  all  day  at  this, 
because  unless  they  stopped  to  eat  they 
would  soon  have  been  weak  and  unable 
to  spin.  There  were  nearly  always  a  few 
Caterpillars  in  the  tent,  but  only  in  the 
early  morning  or  late  afternoon  or  during 
the  night  were  they  all  at  home.  The 
rest  of  the  time  they  were  scattered 
around  the  tree  feeding.  Of  course 
there  were  some  cold  days  when  they 
stayed  in.  When  the  weather  was  chilly 


The  Selfish  Tent-Caterpillar.         27 

they  moved  slowly  and  cared  very  little 
for  food. 

There  was  one  young  Tent-Caterpillar 
who  happened  to  be  the  first  hatched,  and 
who  seemed  to  think  that  because  he  was 
a  minute  older  than  any  of  the  other  chil- 
dren he  had  the  right  to  his  own  way. 
Sometimes  he  got  it,  because  the  others 
did  n't  want  to  have  any  trouble.  Some- 
times he  did  n't  get  it,  and  then  he  was 
very  sulky  and  disagreeable,  even  refusing 
to  answer  when  he  was  spoken  to. 

One  cold  day,  when  all  the  Caterpillars 
stayed  in  the  tent,  this  oldest  brother 
wanted  the  warmest  place,  that  in  the 
very  middle.  It  should  have  belonged 
to  the  younger  brothers  and  sisters,  for 
they  were  not  so  strong,  but  he  pushed 
and  wriggled  his  hairy  black  and  brown 
and  yellow  body  into  the  very  place 
he  wanted,  and  then  scolded  everybody 
around  because  he  had  to  push  to  get 
there.  It  happened  as  it  always  does 


28        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

when  a  Caterpillar  begins  to  say  mean 
things,  and  he  went  on  until  he  was  say- 
ing some  which  were  really  untrue.  No- 
body answered  back,  so  he  scolded  and 
fussed  and  was  exceedingly  disagreeable. 

All  day  long  he  thought  how  wretched 
he  was,  and  how  badly  they  treated  him, 
and  how  he  guessed  they  'd  be  sorry 
enough  if  he  went  away.  The  next 
morning  he  went.  As  long  as  the  warm 
sunshine  lasted  he  did  very  well.  When 
it  began  to  grow  cool,  his  brothers  and 
sisters  crawled  past  him  on  their  way  to 
the  tent.  "  Come  on  ! "  they  cried.  "  It 's 
time  to  go  home." 

"Uh-uh!"  said  the  eldest  brother 
(and  that  meant  "No"),  "I'm  not 
going." 

"Why  not?"  they  asked. 

"  Oh,  because,"  said  he. 

When  the  rest  were  all  together  in  the 
tent  they  talked  about  him.  "  Do  you 
suppose  he  's  angry  ?  "  said  one. 


The  Selfish  Tent-Caterpillar.         29 

"  What  should  he  be  angry  about  ? " 
said  another. 

"  I  just  believe  he  is,"  said  a  third. 
"  Did  you  notice  the  way  his  hairs  bris- 
tled?" 

"  Don't  you  think  we  ought  to  go  to 
get  him  ? "  asked  two  or  three  of  the 
youngest  Caterpillars. 

"  No,"  said  the  older  ones.  "  We 
have  n't  done  anything.  Let  him  get 
over  it." 

So  the  oldest  brother,  who  had  thought 
that  every  other  Caterpillar  in  the  tent 
would  crawl  right  out  and  beg  and  coax 
him  to  come  back,  waited  and  waited  and 
waited,  but  nobody  came.  The  tent  was 
there  and  the  door  was  open.  All  he  had 
to  do  was  to  crawl  in  and  be  at  home. 
He  waited  so  long  that  at  last  he  had  to 
leave  the  tree  and  spin  his  cocoon  with- 
out ever  having  gone  back  to  his  brothers 
and  sisters  in  the  tent.  He  spun  his  co- 
coon and  mixed  the  silk  with  a  yellowish- 


30        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

white  powder,  then  he  lay  down  in  it 
to  sleep  twenty-one  days  and  grow  his 
wings.  The  last  thought  he  had  before 
going  to  sleep  was  an  unhappy  and  self- 
ish one.  Probably  he  awakened  an  un- 
happy and  selfish  Moth. 

His  brothers  and  sisters  were  sad  when- 
ever they  thought  of  him.  "  But,"  they 
said,  "  what  could  we  do  ?  It  was  n't  fair 
for  him  to  have  the  best  of  everything, 
and  we  never  answered  when  he  said 
mean  things.  He  might  have  come  back 
at  any  time  and  we  would  have  been  kind 
to  him." 

And  they  were  right.  What  could 
they  have  done  ?  It  was  very  sad,  but 
when  a  Caterpillar  is  so  selfish  and  sulky 
that  he  cannot  live  happily  with  other 
people,  it  is  much  better  that  he  should 
live  quite  alone. 


IN  the  lower  part  of  the 
meadow,  where  the  grass  grew 
tall  and  tender,  there  lived  a 
fine  and  sturdy  young  Snail ; 
that  is  to  say,  a  fine-looking  Snail. 
His  shell  was  a  beautiful  soft 
gray,  and  its  curves  were  regular 
and  perfect.  His  body  was  soft 
and  moist,  and  just  what  a  Snail's 
body  should  be.  Of  course, 
when  it  came  to  travelling,  he 
could  not  go  fast,  for  none  of  his 
family  are  rapid  travellers,  still,  if 
he  had  been  plucky  and  patient, 
31 


32         Among  the  Meadow  People. 

he  might  have  seen  much  of  the  meadow, 
and  perhaps  some  of  the  world  outside. 
His  friends  and  neighbors  often  told  him 
that  he  ought  to  start  out  on  a  little  jour- 
ney to  see  the  sights,  but  he  would  always 
answer,  "  Oh,  it  is  too  hard  work  ! " 

There  was  nobody  who  liked  stories  of 
meadow  life  better  than  this  same  Snail, 
and  he  would  often  stop  some  friendly 
Cricket  or  Snake  to  ask  for  the  news. 
After  they  had  told  him,  they  would  say, 
"  Why,  don't  you  ever  get  out  to  see  these 
things  for  yourself  ?  "  and  he  would  give  a 
little  sigh  and  answer,  "  It  is  too  far  to  go." 

"  But  you  need  n't  go  the  whole  distance 
in  one  day,"  his  visitor  would  say,  "  only 
a  little  at  a  time." 

"Yes,  and  then  I  would  have  to  keep 
starting  on  again  every  little  while,"  the 
Snail  would  reply.  "  What  of  that  ?"  said 
the  visitor ; "  you  would  have  plenty  of  rest- 
ing spells,  when  you  could  lie  in  the  shade 
of  a  tall  weed  and  enjoy  yourself." 


The  Lazy  Snail.  33 

"Well,  what  is  the  use?"  the  Snail 
would  say.  "  I  can't  enjoy  resting  if  I 
know  I  Ve  got  to  go  to  work  again,"  and 
he  would  sigh  once  more. 

So  there  he  lived,  eating  and  sleeping, 
and  wishing  he  could  see  the  world,  and 
meet  the  people  in  the  upper  part  of  the 
meadow,  but  just  so  lazy  that  he  would  n't 
start  out  to  find  them. 

He  never  thought  that  the  Butterflies 
and  Beetles  might  not  like  it  to  have  him 
keep  calling  them  to  him  and  making  them 
tell  him  the  news.  Oh,  no  indeed  !  If  he 
wanted  them  to  do  anything  for  him,  he 
asked  them  quickly  enough,  and  they,  be- 
ing happy,  good-natured  people,  would 
always  do  as  he  asked  them  to. 

There  came  a  day,  though,  when  he 
asked  too  much.  The  Grasshoppers  had 
been  telling  him  about  some  very  deli- 
cious new  plants  that  grew  a  little  distance 
away,  and  the  Snail  wanted  some  very 
badly.  "Can't  you  bring  me  some?"  he 


34        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

said.  "  There  are  so  many  of  you,  and  you 
have  such  good,  strong  legs.  I  should 
think  you  might  each  bring  me  a  small 
piece  in  your  mouths,  and  then  I  should 
have  a  fine  dinner  of  it." 

The  Grasshoppers  did  n't  say  anything 
then,  but  when  they  were  so  far  away  that 
he  could  not  hear  them,  they  said  to  each 
other,  "If  the  Snail  wants  the  food  so 
much,  he  might  better  go  for  it.  We 
have  other  things  to  do,"  and  they  hopped 
off  on  their  own  business. 

The  Snail  sat  there,  and  wondered  and 
wondered  that  they  did  not  come.  He  kept 
thinking  how  he  would  like  some  of  the  new 
food  for  dinner,  but  there  it  ended.  He 
did  n't  want  it  enough  to  get  it  for  himself. 

The  Grasshoppers  told  all  their  friends 
about  the  Snail's  request,  and  everybody 
thought,  "  Such  a  lazy,  good-for-nothing 
fellow  deserves  to  be  left  quite  alone." 
So  it  happened  that  for  a  very  long  time 
nobody  went  near  the  Snail. 


The  Lazy  Snail.  35 

The  weather  grew  hotter  and  hotter. 
The  clouds,  which  blew  across  the  sky, 
kept  their  rain  until  they  were  well  past 
the  meadow,  and  so  it  happened  that  the 
river  grew  shallower  and  shallower,  and 
the  sunshine  dried  the  tiny  pools  and  rivu- 
lets which  kept  the  lower  meadow  damp. 
The  grass  began  to  turn  brown  and  dry, 
and,  all  in  all,  it  was  trying  weather  for 
Snails. 

One  day,  a  Butterfly  called  some  of  her 
friends  together,  and  told  them  that  she 
had  seen  the  Snail  lying  in  his  old  place, 
looking  thin  and  hungry.  "  The  grass  is 
all  dried  around  him,"  she  said ;  "  I  believe 
he  is  starving,  and  too  lazy  to  go  nearer 
the  river,  where  there  is  still  good  food 
for  him." 

They  all  talked  it  over  together,  and 
some  of  them  said  it  was  of  no  use  to  help 
a  Snail  who  was  too  lazy  to  do  anything 
for  himself.  Others  said,  "  Well,  he  is  too 
weak  to  help  himself  now,  at  all  events, 


36        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

and  we  might  help  him  this  once."  And 
that  is  exactly  what  they  did.  The  But- 
terflies and  the  Mosquitoes  flew  ahead  to 
find  the  best  place  to  put  the  Snail,  and 
all  the  Grasshoppers,  and  Beetles,  and 
other  strong  crawling  creatures  took 
turns  in  rolling  the  Snail  down  toward 
the  river. 

They  left  him  where  the  green  things 
were  fresh  and  tender,  and  he  grew  strong 
and  plump  once  more.  It  is  even  said 
that  he  was  not  so  lazy  afterward,  but  one 
cannot  tell  whether  to  believe  it  or  not, 
for  everybody  knows  that  when  people  let 
themselves  grow  up  lazy,  as  he  did,  it  is 
almost  impossible  for  them  to  get  over  it 
when  they  want  to.  One  thing  is  sure : 
the  meadow  people  who  helped  him  were 
happier  and  better  for  doing  a  kind  thing, 
no  matter  what  became  of  the  Snail. 


IN  one  of  the  Ant-hills  in  the 
highest  part  of  the  meadow, 
were  a  lot  of  young  Ants  talk- 
ing together.  "  I,"  said  one, 
"  am  going  to  be  a  soldier, 
and  drive  away  anybody  who 
comes  to  make  us  trouble.  I 
try  biting  hard  things  every 
day  to  make  my  jaws  strong, 
so  that  I  can  guard  the  home 
better." 

"I,"  said  another  and  smaller 
Ant,  "  want  to  be  a  worker.  I 
want  to  help  build  and  repair 
the  home.  I  want  to  get  the 
food  for  the  family,  and  feed 

37 


38        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

the  Ant  babies,  and  clean  them  off  when 
they  crawl  out  of  their  old  coats.  If  I 
can  do  those  things  well,  I  shall  be  the 
happiest,  busiest  Ant  in  the  meadow." 

"  We  don't  want  to  live  that  kind  of 
life,"  said  a  couple  of  larger  Ants  with 
wings.  "  We  don't  mean  to  stay  around 
the  Ant-hill  all  the  time  and  work.  We 
want  to  use  our  wings,  and  then  you  may 
be  very  sure  that  you  won't  see  us  around 
home  any  more." 

The  little  worker  spoke  up  :  "  Home  is 
a  pleasant  place.  You  may  be  very  glad 
to  come  back  to  it  some  day."  But  the 
Ants  with  the  wings  turned  their  backs 
and  would  n't  listen  to  another  word. 

A  few  days  after  this  there  were  excit- 
ing times  in  the  Ant-hill.  All  the  winged 
Ants  said  "  Good-bye"  to  the  soldiers  and 
workers,  and  flew  off  through  the  air,  flew 
so  far  that  the  little  ones  at  home  could 
no  longer  see  them.  All  day  long  they 
were  gone,  but  the  next  morning  when 


An  Ant  that  Wore  Wings.          39 

the  little  worker  (whom  we  heard  talking) 
went  out  to  get  breakfast,  she  found  the 
poor  winged  Ants  lying  on  the  ground 
near  their  home.  Some  of  them  were 
dead,  and  the  rest  were  looking  for  food. 

The  worker  Ant  ran  up  to  the  one  who 
had  said  she  didn't  want  to  stay  around 
home,  and  asked  her  to  come  back  to 
the  Ant-hill.  "  No,  I  thank  you,"  she  an- 
swered. "  I  have  had  my  breakfast  now, 
and  am  going  to  fly  off  again."  She 
raised  her  wings  to  go,  but  after  she  had 
given  one  flutter,  they  dropped  off,  and 
she  could  never  fly  again. 

The  worker  hurried  back  to  the  Ant- 
hill to  call  some  of  her  sister  workers,  and 
some  of  the  soldiers,  and  they  took  the 
Ant  who  had  lost  her  wings  and  carried 
her  to  another  part  of  the  meadow.  There 
they  went  to  work  to  build  a  new  home 
and  make  her  their  queen. 

First,  they  looked  <for  a  good,  sandy 
place,  on  which  the  sun  would  shine  all 


4O        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

day.  Then  the  worker  Ants  began  to 
dig  in  the  ground  and  bring  out  tiny 
round  pieces  of  earth  in  their  mouths. 
The  soldiers  helped  them,  and  before 
night  they  had  a  cosy  little  home  in  the 
earth,  with  several  rooms,  and  some  food 
already  stored.  They  took  their  queen  in, 
and  brought  her  food  to  eat,  and  waited 
on  her,  and  she  was  happy  and  contented. 
By  and  by  the  Ant  eggs  began  to  hatch, 
and  the  workers  had  all  they  could  do  to 
take  care  of  their  queen  and  her  little  Ant 
babies,  and  the  soldier  Ants  had  to  help. 
The  Ant  babies  were  little  worms  or 
grubs  when  they  first  came  out  of  the 
eggs ;  after  a  while  they  curled  up  in  tiny, 
tiny  cases,  called  pupa-cases,  and  after  an- 
other while  they  came  out  of  these,  and 
then  they  looked  like  the  older  Ants,  with 
their  six  legs,  and  their  slender  little 
waists.  But  whatever  they  were,  whether 
eggs,  or  grubs,  or  curled  up  in  the  pupa- 
cases,  or  lively  little  Ants,  the  workers  fed 


An  Ant  that  Wore  Wings.          41 

and  took  care  of  them,  and  the  soldiers 
fought  for  them,  and  the  queen-mother 
loved  them,  and  they  all  lived  happily  to- 
gether until  the  young  Ants  were  ready 
to  go  out  into  the  great  world  and  learn 
the  lessons  of  life  for  themselves. 


THE  CHEERFUL  HARVESTMEN. 

SOME  of  the  meadow  people  are  gay 
and  careless,  and  some  are  always  worry- 
ing. Some  work  hard  every  day,  and 
some  are  exceedingly  lazy.  There,  as 
everywhere  else,  each  has  his  own  way  of 
thinking  about  things.  It  is  too  bad  that 
they  cannot  all  learn  to  think  brave  and 
cheerful  thoughts,  for  these  make  life 
happy.  One  may  have  a  comfortable 
home,  kind  neighbors,  and  plenty  to  eat, 
yet  if  he  is  in  the  habit  of  thinking  dis- 
agreeable thoughts,  not  even  all  these 
good  things  can  make  him  happy.  Now 
there  was  the  young  Frog  who  thought 
herself  sick — but  that  is  another  story. 

Perhaps  the  Harvestmen  were  the  most 
cheerful  of  all  the  meadow  people.  The 
42 


The  Cheerful  Harvestmen.          43 

old  Tree  Frog  used  to  say  that  it  made 
him  feel  better  just  to  see  their  knees 
coming  toward  him.  Of  course,  when  he 
saw  their  knees,  he  knew  that  the  whole 
insect  was  also  coming.  He  spoke  in  that 
way  because  the  Harvestmen  always 
walked  or  ran  with  their  knees  so  much 
above  the  rest  of  their  bodies  that  one 
could  see  those  first. 

The  Harvestmen  were  not  particularly 
fine-looking,  not  nearly  so  handsome  as 
some  of  their  Spider  cousins.  One  never 
thought  of  that,  however.  They  had 
such  an  easy  way  of  moving  around  on 
their  eight  legs,  each  of  which  had  a 
great  many  joints.  It  is  the  joints,  or 
bending-places,  you  know,  which  make 
legs  useful.  Besides  being  graceful,  they 
had  very  pleasant  manners.  When  a 
Harvestman  said  "Good-morning"  to 
you  on  a  rainy  day,  you  always  had  a 
feeling  that  the  sun  was  shining.  It 
might  be  that  the  drops  were  even  then 


44        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

falling  into  your  face,  but  for  a  moment 
you  were  sure  to  feel  that  everything  was 
bright  and  warm  and  comfortable. 

Sometimes  the  careless  young  Grasshop- 
pers and  Crickets  called  the  Harvestmen 
by  their  nicknames,  "  Daddy  Long-Legs  " 
or  "  Grandfather  Graybeard."  Even 
then  the  Harvestmen  were  good-natured, 
and  only  said  with  a  smile  that  the  young 
people  had  not  yet  learned  the  names  of 
their  neighbors.  The  Grasshoppers  never 
seemed  to  think  how  queer  it  was  to  call 
a  young  Harvestman  daughter  "  Grand- 
father Graybeard."  When  they  saw  how 
good-natured  they  were,  the  Grasshop- 
pers soon  stopped  trying  to  tease  the 
Harvestmen.  People  who  are  really 
good-natured  are  never  teased  very  long, 
you  know. 

The  Walking-Sticks  were  exceedingly 
polite  to  the  Harvestmen.  They  thought 
them  very  slender  and  genteel-looking. 
Once  the  Five-Legged  Walking-Stick 


The  Cheerful  Harvestmen.          45 

said  to  the  largest  Harvestman,  "  Why 
do  you  talk  so  much  with  the  common 
people  in  the  meadow  ?  " 

The  Harvestman  knew  exactly  what  the 
Walking-Stick  meant,  but  he  was  not  go- 
ing to  let  anybody  make  fun  of  his  kind 
and  friendly  neighbors,  so  he  said :  "  I 
think  we  Harvestmen  are  rather  common 
ourselves.  There  are  a  great,  great  many 
of  us  here.  It  must  be  very  lonely  to  be 
uncommon." 

After  that  the  Walking-Stick  had  noth- 
ing more  to  say.  He  never  felt  quite 
sure  whether  the  Harvestman  was  too 
stupid  to  understand  or  too  wise  to  gos- 
sip. Once  he  thought  he  saw  the  Har- 
vestman's  eyes  twinkle.  The  Harvestman 
did  n't  care  if  people  thought  him  stupid. 
He  knew  that  he  was  not  stupid,  and 
he  would  rather  seem  dull  than  to  lis- 
ten while  unkind  things  were  said  about 
his  neighbors. 

Some   people   would   have   thought   it 


46        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

very  hard  luck  to  be  Harvestmen.  The 
Garter  Snake  said  that  if  he  were  one,  he 
should  be  worried  all  the  time  about  his 
legs.  "  I  'm  thankful  I  have  n't  any,"  he 
said,  "  for  if  I  had  I  should  be  forever 
thinking  I  should  lose  some  of  them.  A 
Harvestman  without  legs  would  be  badly 
off.  He  could  never  in  the  world  crawl 
around  on  his  belly  as  I  do." 

How  the  Harvestmen  did  laugh  when 
they  heard  this !  The  biggest  one  said, 
"  Well,  if  that  is  n't  just  like  some  people  ! 
Never  want  to  have  anything  for  fear 
they  '11  lose  it.  I  wonder  if  he  worries 
about  his  head  ?  He  might  lose  that,  you 
know,  and  then  what  would  he  do  ?  " 

It  was  only  the  next  day  that  the  lar- 
gest Harvestman  came  home  on  seven 
legs.  His  friends  all  cried  out,  "  Oh,  how 
did  it  ever  happen  ?  " 

"  Cows,"  said  he. 

"Did  they  step  on  you?"  asked  the 
Five-Legged  Walking-Stick.  He  had  not 


The  Cheerful  Harvestmen.          47 

lived  long  enough  in  the  meadow  to  un- 
derstand all  that  the  Harvestman  meant. 
He  was  sorry  for  him,  though,  for  he 
knew  what  it  was  to  lose  a  leg. 

"  Huh  ! "  said  a  Grasshopper,  interrupt- 
ing in  a  very  rude  way,  "  are  n't  any  Cows 
in  this  meadow  now  ! " 

Then  the  other  Harvestmen  told  the 
Walking-Stick  all  about  it,  how  sometimes 
a  boy  would  come  to  the  meadow,  catch 
a  Harvestman,  hold  him  up  by  one  leg, 
and  say  to  him,  "  Grandfather  Graybeard, 
tell  me  where  the  Cows  are,  or  I  '11  kill 
you."  Then  the  only  thing  a  Harvestman 
could  do  was  to  struggle  and  wriggle 
himself  free,  and  he  often  broke  off  a  leg 
in  doing  so. 

"How  terrible! "  said  the  three  Walk- 
ing-Sticks all  together.  "  But  why  don't 
you  tell  them?" 

"  We  do,"  answered  the  Harvestmen. 
"  We  point  with  our  seven  other  legs, 
and  we  point  every  way  there  is.  Some- 


48        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

times  we  don't  know  where  they  are,  so 
we  point  everywhere,  to  be  sure.  But  it 
does  n't  make  any  difference.  Our  legs 
drop  off  just  the  same." 

"  Is  n't  a  boy  clever  enough  to  find 
Cows  alone  ? "  asked  the  Walking-Sticks. 

"  Oh,  it  is  n't  that,"  cried  all  the  meadow 
people  together.  "  Even  after  you  tell, 
and  sometimes  when  the  Cows  are  right 
there,  they  walk  off  home  without  them." 

"  I  'd  sting  them,"  said  a  Wasp,  waving 
his  feelers  fiercely  and  raising  and  lower- 
ing his  wings.  "  I  'd  sting  them  as  hard 
as  I  could." 

"  You  would  n't  if  you  had  no  sting," 
said  the  Tree  Frog. 

"  N-no,"  stammered  the  Wasp,  "  I  sup- 
pose I  would  n't." 

"  You  poor  creature  ! "  said  the  biggest 
Katydid  to  the  biggest  Harvestman. 
"  What  will  you  do  ?  Only  seven  legs  ! " 

"  Do  ?  "  answered  the  biggest  Harvest- 
man, and  it  was  then  one  could  see  how 


The  Cheerful  Harvestmen.          49 

truly  brave  and  cheerful  he  was.  "  Do  ? 
I  '11  walk  on  those  seven.  If  I  lose  one 
of  them  I  '11  walk  on  six,  and  if  I  lose  one 
of  them  I  '11  walk  on  five.  Have  n't  I  my 
mouth  and  my  stomach  and  my  eyes  and 
my  two  feelers,  and  my  two  food-pincers  ? 
I  may  not  be  so  good-looking,  but  I  am  a 
Harvestman,  and  I  shall  enjoy  the  grass 
and  the  sunshine  and  my  kind  neighbors 
as  long  as  I  live.  I  must  leave  you  now. 
Good-day." 

He  walked  off  rather  awkwardly,  for 
he  had  not  yet  learned  to  manage  him- 
self since  his  accident.  The  meadow 
people  looked  after  him  very  thoughtfully. 
They  were  not  noticing  his  awkwardness, 
or  thinking  of  his  high  knees  or  of  his 
little  low  body.  Perhaps  they  thought 
what  the  Cicada  said,  "  Ah,  that  is  the 
way  to  live  ! " 


THE  first  thing  our 
little     Spider     remem- 
Dered  was  being  crowd- 
ed with  a  lot  of  other 
little  Spiders  in  a  tiny  brown 
house.     This  tiny  house  had 
no  windows,   and   was   very 
warm  and   dark    and  stuffy. 
When  the  wind  blew,  the  lit- 
tle Spiders  would  hear  it  rushing 
through  the  forest  near  by,  and 
would    feel    their    round    brown 
house  swinging  like  a  cradle.     It 
was   fastened   to  a   bush  by  the 
edge  of  the  forest,  but  they  could 
not  know  that,  so  they  just  wiggled  and 
50 


The  Little  Spider's  First  Web.      5 1 

pushed  and  ate  the  food  that  they  found 
in  the  house,  and  wondered  what  it  all 
meant.  They  did  n't  even  guess  that  a 
mother  Spider  had  made  the  brown  house 
and  put  the  food  in  it  for  her  Spider 
babies  to  eat  when  they  came  out  of 
their  eggs.  She  had  put  the  eggs  in, 
too,  but  the  little  Spiders  did  n't  remem- 
ber the  time  when  they  lay  curled  up  in 
the  eggs.  They  did  n't  know  what  had 
been  nor  what  was  to  be — they  thought 
that  to  eat  and  wiggle  and  sleep  was  all 
of  life.  You  see  they  had  much  to  learn. 
One  morning  the  little .  Spiders  found 
that  the  food  was  all  gone,  and  they 
pushed  and  scrambled  harder  than  ever, 
because  they  were  hungry  and  wanted 
more.  Exactly  what  happened  nobody 
knew,  but  suddenly  it  grew  light,  and 
some  of  them  fell  out  of  the  house.  All 
the  rest  scrambled  after,  and  there  they 
stood,  winking  and  blinking  in  the  bright 
sunshine,  and  feeling  a  little  bit  dizzy,  be- 


52         Among  the  Meadow  People. 

cause  they  were  on  a  shaky  web  made  of 
silvery  ropes. 

Just  then  the  web  began  to  shake  even 
more,  and  a  beautiful  great  mother  Spider 
ran  out  on  it.  She  was  dressed  in  black 
and  yellow  velvet,  and  her  eight  eyes 
glistened  and  gleamed  in  the  sunlight. 
They  had  never  dreamed  of  such  a  won- 
derful creature. 

"  Well,  my  children,"  she  exclaimed,  "  I 
know  you  must  be  hungry,  and  I  have 
breakfast  all  ready  for  you."  So  they 
began  eating  at  once,  and  the  mother 
Spider  told  them  many  things  about  the 
meadow  and  the  forest,  and  said  they 
must  amuse  themselves  while  she  worked 
to  get  food  for  them.  There  was  no 
father  Spider  to  help  her,  and,  as  she 
said,  "  Growing  children  must  have  plenty 
of  good  plain  food." 

You  can  just  fancy  what  a  good  time 
the  baby  Spiders  had.  There  were  a 
hundred  and  seventy  of  them,  so  they 


The  Little  Spider's  First  Web.      53 

had  no  chance  to  grow  lonely,  even  when 
their  mother  was  away.  They  lived  in 
this  way  for  quite  a  while,  and  grew  big- 
ger and  stronger  every  day.  One  morn- 
ing the  mother  Spider  said  to  her  biggest 
daughter,  "  You  are  quite  old  enough  to 
work  now,  and  I  will  teach  you  to  spin 
your  web." 

The  little  Spider  soon  learned  to  draw 
out  the  silvery  ropes  from  the  pocket  in 
her  body  where  they  were  made  and  kept, 
and  very  soon  she  had  one  fastened  at 
both  ends  to  branches  of  the  bush.  Then 
her  mother  made  her  walk  out  to  the 
middle  of  her  rope  bridge,  and  spin  and 
fasten  two  more,  so  that  it  looked  like  a 
shining  cross.  After  that  was  done,  the 
mother  showed  her  something  like  a  comb, 
which  is  part  of  a  Spider's  foot,  and  taught 
her  how  to  measure,  and  put  more  ropes 
out  from  the  middle  of  the  cross,  until  it 
looked  like  the  spokes  of  a  wheel. 

The  little  Spider  got  much  discouraged, 


54        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

and  said,  "  Let  me  finish  it  some  other 
time  ;  I  am  tired  of  working  now." 

The  mother  Spider  answered,  "  No,  I 
cannot  have  a  lazy  child." 

The  little  one  said,  "  I  can't  ever  do  it, 
I  know  I  can't." 

"  Now,"  said  the  mother,  "  I  shall  have 
to  give  you  a  Spider  scolding.  You  have 
acted  as  lazy  as  the  Tree  Frog  says  boys 
and  girls  sometimes  do.  He  has  been  up 
near  the  farm-house,  and  says  that  he  has 
seen  there  children  who  do  not  like  to 
work.  The  meadow  people  could  hardly 
believe  such  a  thing  at  first.  He  says 
they  were  cross  and  unhappy  children,  and 
no  wonder  !  Lazy  people  are  never  happy. 
You  try  to  finish  the  web,  and  see  if  I  am 
not  right.  You  are  not  a  baby  now,  and 
you  must  work  and  get  your  own  food." 

So  the  little  Spider  spun  the  circles  of 
rope  in  the  web,  and  made  these  ropes 
sticky,  as  all  careful  spiders  do.  She  ate 
the  loose  ends  and  pieces  that  were  left 


The  Little  Spider's  First  Web.      55 

over,  to  save  them  for  another  time,  and 
when  it  was  done,  it  was  so  fine  and  per- 
fect that  her  brothers  and  sisters  crowded 
around,  saying,  "  Oh  !  oh !  oh  !  how  beauti- 
ful ! "  and  asked  the  mother  to  teach  them. 
The  little  web-spinner  was  happier  than 
she  had  ever  been  before,  and  the  mother 
began  to  teach  her  other  children.  But 
it  takes  a  long  time  to  teach  a  hundred 
and  seventy  children. 


THE  DEETLEWHD 

DID  NOT  UKt  CATOJPILIAI$$ 


ONE  morning  early 
in  June,  a  fat  and  shin- 
ing May  Beetle  lay  on 
his  back  among  the 
grasses,  kicking  his 
six  legs  in  the  air, 
and  wriggling  around 
while  he  tried  to  catch 
hold  of  a  grass-blade 
by  which  to  pull  him- 
self up.  Now,  Beetles 
do  not  like  to  lie  on 
their  backs  in  the  sun- 
shine, and  this  one  was 
hot  and  tired  from 
his  long  struggle.  Be- 
side that,  he  was  very 
cross  because  he  was 
late  in  getting  his 
breakfast,  so  when  he 
56 


Beetle  who  did  not  like  Caterpillars.   57 

did  at  last  get  right  side  up,  and  saw  a 
brown  and  black  Caterpillar  watching 
him,  he  grew  very  ill-mannered,  and  said 
some  things  of  which  he  should  have  been 
ashamed. 

"  Oh,  yes,"  he  said,  "  you  are  quick 
enough  to  laugh  when  you  think  some- 
body else  is  in  a  fix.  I  often  lie  on  my 
back  and  kick,  just  for  fun."  (Which  was 
not  true,  but  when  Beetles  are  cross  they 
are  not  always  truthful.) 

"  Excuse  me,"  said  the  Caterpillar,  "  I 
did  not  mean  to  hurt  your  feelings.  If  I 
smiled,  it  was  because  I  remembered  be- 
ing in  the  same  plight  myself  yesterday, 
and  what  a  time  I  had  smoothing  my  fur 
afterwards.  Now,  you  won't  have  to 
smooth  your  fur,  will  you?"  she  asked 
pleasantly. 

"  No,  I  'm  thankful  to  say  I  have  n't 
any  fur  to  smooth,"  snapped  the  Beetle. 
"  I  am  not  one  of  the  crawling,  furry  kind. 
My  family  wear  dark  brown,  glossy  coats, 


58        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

and  we  always  look  trim  and  clean.  When 
we  want  to  hurry,  we  fly  ;  and  when  tired 
of  flying,  we  walk  or  run.  We  have  two 
kinds  of  wings.  We  have  a  pair  of  dainty, 
soft  ones,  that  carry  us  through  the  air, 
and  then  we  have  a  pair  of  stiff  ones  to 
cover  over  the  soft  wings  when  we  come 
down  to  the  earth  again.  We  are  the 
finest  family  in  the  meadow." 

"  I  have  often  heard  of  you,"  said  the 
Caterpillar,  "  and  am  very  glad  to  become 
acquainted." 

"  Well,"  answered  the  Beetle,  "  I  am 
willing  to  speak  to  you,  of  course,  but 
we  can  never  be  at  all  friendly.  A  May 
Beetle,  indeed,  in  company  with  a  Cater- 
pillar !  I  choose  my  friends  among  the 
Moths,  Butterflies,  and  Dragon-flies, — in 
fact,  /  move  in  the  upper  circles." 

"  Upper  circles,  indeed ! "  said  a  croak- 
ing voice  beside  him,  which  made  the 
Beetle  jump,  "  I  have  hopped  over  your 
head  for  two  or  three  years,  when  you 


Beetle  who  did  not  like  Caterpillars.  59 

were  nothing  but  a  fat,  white  worm. 
You  'd  better  not  put  on  airs.  The  fine 
family  of  May  Beetles  were  all  worms 
once,  and  they  had  to  live  in  the  earth 
and  eat  roots,  while  the  Caterpillars 
were  in  the  sunshine  over  their  heads, 
dining  on  tender  green  leaves  and  flower 
buds." 

The  May  Beetle  began  to  look  very 
uncomfortable,  and  squirmed  as  though 
he  wanted  to  get  away,  but  the  Tree 
Frog,  for  it  was  the  Tree  Frog,  went  on  : 
"  As  for  your  not  liking  Caterpillars,  they 
don't  stay  Caterpillars.  Your  new  ac- 
quaintance up  there  will  come  out  with 
wings  one  of  these  days,  and  you  will  be 
glad  enough  to  know  him."  And  the 
Tree  Frog  hopped  away. 

The  May  Beetle  scraped  his  head  with 
his  right  front  leg,  and  then  said  to  the 
Caterpillar,  who  was  nibbling  away  at  the 
milkweed:  "You  know,  I  was  n't  really  in 
earnest  about  our  not  being  friends.  I 


60        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

shall  be  very  glad  to  know  you,  and  all 
your  family." 

"  Thank  you,"  answered  the  Caterpillar, 
"  thank  you  very  much,  but  I  have  been 
thinking  it  over  myself,  and  I  feel  that  I 
really  could  not  be  friendly  with  a  May 
Beetle.  Of  course,  I  don't  mind  speak- 
ing to  you  once  in  a  while,  when  I  am 
eating,  and  getting  ready  to  spin  my  co- 
coon. After  that  it  will  be  different.  You 
see,  then  I  shall  belong  to  one  of  the 
finest  families  in  the  meadow,  the  Milk- 
weed Butterflies.  We  shall  eat  nothing 
but  honey,  and  dress  in  soft  orange  and 
black  velvet.  We  shall  not  blunder  and 
bump  around  when  we  fly.  We  shall  en- 
joy visiting  with  the  Dragon-flies  and 
Moths.  I  shall  not  forget  you  altogether, 
I  dare  say,  but  I  shall  feel  it  my  duty  to 
move  in  the  upper  circles,  where  I  belong. 
Good-morning." 


THE  YOUNG   ROBIN  WHO  WAS 
AFRAID  TO  FLY. 

DURING  the  days  when  the  four  beauti- 
ful green-blue  eggs  lay  in  the  nest,  Mrs. 
Robin  stayed  quite  closely  at  home.  She 
said  it  was  a  very  good  place,  for  she 
could  keep  her  eggs  warm  and  still  see 
all  that  was  happening.  The  rail-end  on 
which  they  had  built  was  on  the  meadow 
side  of  the  fence,  over  the  tallest  grasses 
and  the  graceful  stalks  of  golden-rod. 
Here  the  Garter  Snake  drew  his  shining 
body  through  the  tangled  green,  and  here 
the  Tree  Frog  often  came  for  a  quiet 
nap. 

Just  outside  the  fence  the  milkweeds 
grew,  with  every  broad,  pale  green  leaf 
slanting  upward  in  their  spring  style. 

61 


62        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

Here  the  Milkweed  Caterpillars  fed,  and 
here,  too,  when  the  great  balls  of  tiny  dull 
pink  blossoms  dangled  from  the  stalks, 
the  Milkweed  Butterflies  hung  all  day 
long.  All  the  teams  from  the  farmhouse 
passed  along  the  quiet,  grass-grown  road, 
and  those  which  were  going  to  the  farm 
as  well.  When  Mrs.  Robin  saw  a  team 
coming,  she  always  settled  herself  more 
deeply  into  her  nest,  so  that  not  one  of 
her  brick-red  breast  feathers  showed. 
Then  she  sat  very  still,  only  turning  her 
head  enough  to  watch  the  team  as  it 
came  near,  passed,  and  went  out  of  sight 
down  the  road.  Sometimes  she  did  not 
even  have  to  turn  her  head,  for  if  she 
happened  to  be  facing  the  road,  she  could 
with  one  eye  watch  the  team  come  near, 
and  with  the  other  watch  it  go  away.  No 
bird,  you  know,  ever  has  to  look  at  any- 
thing with  both  eyes  at  once. 

After  the  young  Robins  had  outgrown 
their  shells  and  broken  and  thrown  them 


The  Robin  who  was  Afraid  to  Fly.     63 

off,  they  were  naked  and  red  and  blind. 
They  lay  in  a  heap  in  the  bottom  of  the 
nest,  and  became  so  tangled  that  nobody 
but  a  bird  could  tell  which  was  which. 
If  they  heard  their  father  or  their  mother 
flying  toward  them,  they  would  stretch  up 
their  necks  and  open  their  mouths.  Then 
each  would  have  some  food  poked  down 
his  throat,  and  would  lie  still  until  another 
mouthful  was  brought  to  him. 

When  they  got  their  eyes  open  and  be- 
gan to  grow  more  down,  they  were  good 
little  Robins  and  did  exactly  as  they  were 
told.  It  was  easy  to  be  good  then,  for 
they  were  not  strong  enough  to  want  to 
go  elsewhere,  and  they  had  all  they  wanted 
to  eat.  At  night  their  mother  sat  in  the 
nest  and  covered  them  with  her  soft 
feathers.  When  it  rained  she  also  did 
this.  She  was  a  kind  and  very  hard- 
working mother.  Mr.  Robin  worked 

c5 

quite  as  hard  as  she,  and  was  exceedingly 
proud  of  his  family. 


64        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

But  when  their  feathers  began  to  grow, 
and  each  young  Robin's  sharp  quills 
pricked  his  brothers  and  sisters  if  they 
pushed  against  him,  then  it  was  not  so 
easy  to  be  good.  Four  growing  children 
in  one  little  round  bed  sometimes  found 
themselves  rather  crowded.  One  night 
Mrs.  Robin  said  to  her  husband  :  "  I  am 
all  tired  out.  I  work  as  long  as  daylight 
lasts  getting  food  for  those  children,  and 
I  cannot  be  here  enough  to  teach  them 
anything." 

"  Then  they  must  learn  to  work  for 
themselves,"  said  Mr.  Robin  decidedly. 
"  They  are  surely  old  enough." 

"  Why,  they  are  just  babies ! "  ex- 
claimed his  wife.  "  They  have  hardly 
any  tails  yet." 

"  They  don't  need  tails  to  eat  with," 
said  he,  "  and  they  may  as  well  begin 
now.  I  will  not  have  you  get  so  tired  for 
this  one  brood." 

Mrs.    Robin   said  nothing   more.      In- 


The  Robin  who  was  Afraid  to  Fly.     65 

deed,  there  was  nothing  more  to  be  said, 
for  she  knew  perfectly  well  that  her  chil- 
dren would  not  eat  with  their  tails  if  they 
had  them.  She  loved  her  babies  so  that 
she  almost  disliked  to  see  them  grow  up, 
yet  she  knew  it  was  right  for  them  to 
leave  the  nest.  They  were  so  large  that 
they  spread  out  over  the  edges  of  it  al- 
ready, and  they  must  be  taught  to  take 
care  of  themselves  before  it  was  time  for 
her  to  rear  her  second  brood. 

The  next  morning  all  four  children 
were  made  to  hop  out  on  to  the  rail. 
Their  legs  were  not  very  strong  and  their 
toes  sprawled  weakly  around.  Some- 
times they  lurched  and  almost  fell.  Be- 
fore leaving  the  nest  they  had  felt  big 
and  very  important ;  now  they  suddenly 
felt  small  and  young  and  helpless.  Once 
in  a  while  one  of  them  would  hop  feebly 
along  the  rail  for  a  few  steps.  Then  he 
would  chirp  in  a  frightened  way,  let  his 
head  settle  down  over  his  speckled  breast, 


66        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

slide  his  eyelids  over  his  eyes,  and  wait 
for  more  food  to  be  brought  to  him. 

Whenever  a  team  went  by,  the  oldest 
child  shut  his  eyes.  He  thought  they 
could  n't  see  him  if  he  did  that.  The 
other  children  kept  theirs  open  and 
watched  to  see  what  happened.  Their 
father  and  mother  had  told  them  to 
watch,  but  the  timid  young  Robin  always 
shut  his  eyes  in  spite  of  that. 

"  We  shall  have  trouble  with  him," 
said  Mrs.  Robin,  "  but  he  must  be  made 
to  do  as  he  is  told,  even  if  he  is  afraid." 
She  shut  her  bill  very  tightly  as  she 
spoke,  and  Mr.  Robin  knew  that  he  could 
safely  trust  the  bringing-up  of  his  timi<-l 
son  to  her. 

Mrs.  Robin  talked  and  talked  to  him, 
and  still  he  shut  his  eyes  every  time  that 
he  was  frightened.  "  I  can't  keep  them 
open,"  he  would  say,  "  because  when  I 
am  frightened  I  am  always  afraid,  and  * 
can't  be  brave  when  I  am  afraid." 


The  Robin  who  was  Afraid  to  Fly.     67 

"  That  is  just  when  you  must  be 
brave,"  said  his  mother.  "  There  is  no 
use  in  being  brave  when  there  is  nothing 
to  fear,  and  it  is  a  great  deal  braver  to  be 
brave  when  you  are  frightened  than  to 
be  brave  when  you  are  not."  You  can 
see  that  she  was  a  very  wise  Robin  and  a 
good  mother.  It  would  have  been  dread- 
ful for  her  to  let  him  grow  up  a  coward. 

At  last  the  time  came  when  the  young 
birds  were  to  fly  to  the  ground  and  hop 
across  the  road.  Both  their  father  and 
their  mother  were  there  to  show  them  how. 
"  You  must  let  go  of  the  rail,"  they  said. 
"  You  will  never  fly  in  the  world  unless 
you  let  go  of  the  rail." 

Three  of  the  children  fluttered  and 
lurched  and  flew  down.  The  timid  young 
Robin  would  not  try  it.  His  father  or- 
dered and  his  mother  coaxed,  yet  he  only 
clung  more  closely  to  his  rail  and  said, 
"  I  can't !  I  'm  afraid ! " 

At  last  his  mother  said  :  "  Very  well. 


68        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

You  shall  stay  there  as  long  as  you  wish, 
but  we  cannot  stay  with  you." 

Then  she  chirped  to  her  husband,  and 
they  and  the  three  brave  children  went 
across  the  road,  talking  as  they  went. 
"  Careful !  "  she  would  say.  "  Now  an- 
other hop!  That  was  fine!  Now  another!" 
And  the  father  fluttered  around  and  said  : 
"  Good  !  Good  !  You  '11  be  grown-up  be- 
fore you  know  it."  When  they  were 
across,  the  parents  hunted  food  and  fed 
their  three  brave  children,  tucking  the 
mouthfuls  far  into  their  wide-open  bills. 

The  timid  little  Robin  on  the  fence 
felt  very,  very  lonely.  He  was  hungry, 
too.  Whenever  he  saw  his  mother  pick 
up  a  mouthful  of  food,  he  chirped  loudly : 
"  Me  !  Me !  Me  ! "  for  he  wanted  her  to 
bring  it  to  him.  She  paid  no  attention 
to  him  for  a  long  time.  Then  she  called  : 
"  Do  you  think  you  can  fly  ?  Do  you 
think  you  can  fly?  Do  you  think?" 

The  timid  little  Robin   hopped  a  few 


The  Robin  who  was  Afraid  to  Fly.     69 

steps  and  chirped  but  never  lifted  a  wing. 
Then  his  mother  gave  each  of  the  other 
children  a  big  mouthful. 

The  Robin  on  the  fence  huddled  down 
into  a  miserable  little  bunch,  and  thought : 
"  They  don't  care  whether  I  ever  have 
anything  to  eat.  No,  they  don't !  "  Then 
he  heard  a  rush  of  wings,  and  his  mother 
stood  before  him  with  a  bunch  in  her  bill 
for  him.  He  hopped  toward  her  and  she 
ran  away.  Then  he  sat  down  and  cried. 
She  hopped  back  and  looked  lovingly  at 
him,  but  could  n't  speak  because  her  bill 
was  so  full.  Across  the  road  the  Robin 
father  stayed  with  his  brave  children  and 
called  out,  "  Earn  it,  my  son,  earn  it ! " 

The  young  Robin  stretched  out  his 
neck  and  opened  his  bill — but  his  mother 
flew  to  the  ground.  He  was  so  hungry — 
so  very,  very  hungry, — that  for  a  minute 
he  quite  forgot  to  be  afraid,  and  he  leaned 
toward  her  and  toppled  over.  He  flut- 
tered his  wings  without  thinking,  and  the 


70        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

first  he  knew  he  had  flown  to  the  ground. 
He  was  hardly  there  before  his  mother 
was  feeding  him  and  his  father  was  sing- 
ing :  "  Do  you  know  what  you  did  ?  Do 
you  know  what  you  did  ?  Do  you 
know  ?  " 

Before  his  tail  was  grown  the  timid 
Robin  had  become  as  brave  as  any  of  the 
children,  for,  you  know,  after  you  begin 
to  be  brave  you  always  want  to  go  on. 
But  the  Garter  Snake  says  that  Mrs. 
Robin  is  the  bravest  of  the  family. 


IN  one  corner  of  the  meadow  lived  a 
fat  old  Cricket,  who  thought  a  great  deal 
of  himself.  He  had  such  a  big,  shining 
body,  and  a  way  of  chirping  so  very  loudly, 
that  nobody  could  ever  forget  where  he 
lived.  He  was  a  very  good  sort  of  Cricket, 
too,  ready  to  say  the  most  pleasant  things 
to  everybody,  yet,  sad  to  relate,  he  had  a 
dreadful  habit  of  boasting.  He  had  not 
always  lived  in  the  meadow,  and  he  liked 
to  tell  of  the  wonderful  things  he  had  seen 
and  done  when  he  was  younger  and  lived 
up  near  the  white  farm-house. 

When  he  told  these  stories  of  what  he 
had  done,  the  big  Crickets  around  him 
71 


72         Among  the  Meadow  People. 

would  not  say  much,  but  just  sit  and  look 
at  each  other.  The  little  Crickets,  how- 
ever, loved  to  hear  him  talk,  and  would 
often  come  to  the  door  of  his  house 
(which  was  a  hole  in  the  ground),  to  beg 
him  to  tell  them  more. 

One  evening  he  said  he  would  teach 
them  a  few  things  that  all  little  Crickets 
should  know.  He  had  them  stand  in  a 
row,  and  then  began  :  "  With  what  part 
of  your  body  do  you  eat  ?  " 

"  With  our  mouths,"  all  the  little  Crick- 
ets shouted. 

"  With  what  part  of  your  body  do  you 
run  and  leap  ?  " 

"  Our  legs,"  they  cried. 

"  Do  you  do  anything  else  with  your 
legs?" 

"We  clean  ourselves  with  them,"  said 
one. 

"We  use  them  and  our  mouths  to 
make  our  houses  in  the  ground,"  said 
another. 


The  Crickets'  School.  73 

"  Oh  yes,  and  we  hear  with  our  two 
front  legs,"  cried  one  bright  little  fellow. 

"  That  is  right,"  answered  the  fat  old 
Cricket.  "  Some  creatures  hear  with 
things  called  ears,  that  grow  on  the  sides  of 
their  heads,  but  for  my  part,  I  think  it  much 
nicer  to  hear  with  one's  legs,  as  we  do." 

"  Why,  how  funny  it  must  be  not  to 
hear  with  one's  legs,  as  we  do,"  cried  all 
the  little  Crickets  together. 

"  There  are  a  great  many  queer  things 
to  be  seen  in  the  great  world,"  said  their 
teacher.  "  I  have  seen  some  terribly  big 
creatures  with  only  two  legs  and  no  wings 
whatever." 

"  How  dreadful !"  all  the  little  Crickets 
cried.  "We  would  n't  think  they  could 
move  about  at  all." 

"It  must  be  very  hard  to  do  so,"  said 
their  teacher ;  "  I  was  very  sorry  for  them," 
and  he  spread  out  his  own  wings  and 
stretched  his  six  legs  to  show  how  he  en- 
joyed them. 


74        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

"  But  how  can  they  sing  if  they  have  no 
wings  ?  "  asked  the  bright  little  Cricket. 

"  They  sing  through  their  mouths,  in 
much  the  same  way  that  the  birds  have 
to.  I  am  sure  it  must  be  much  easier  to 
sing  by  rubbing  one's  wings  together,  as 
we  do,"  said  the  fat  old  teacher.  "  I  could 
tell  you  many  queer  things  about  these 
two-legged  creatures,  and  the  houses  in 
which  they  live,  and  perhaps  some  day  I 
will.  There  are  other  large  four-legged 
creatures  around  their  homes  that  are  very 
terrible,  but,  my  children,  I  was  never 
afraid  of  any  of  them.  I  am  one  of  the 
truly  brave  people  who  are  never  fright- 
ened, no  matter  how  terrible  the  sight.  I 
hope,  children,  that  you  will  always  be 
brave,  like  me.  If  anything  should  scare 
you,  do  not  jump  or  run  away.  Stay  right 
where  you  are,  and — 

But  the  little  Crickets  never  heard  the 
rest  of  what  their  teacher  began  to  say,  for 
at  that  minute  Brown  Bess,  the  Cow,  came 


The  Crickets'  School.  75 

through  a  broken  fence  toward  the  spot 
where  the  Crickets  were.  The  teacher 
gave  one  shrill  "  chirp,"  and  scrambled 
down  his  hole.  The  little  Crickets  fairly 
tumbled  over  each  other  in  their  hurry  to 
get  away,  and  the  fat  old  Cricket,  who 
had  been  out  in  the  great  world,  never 
again  talked  to  them  about  being  brave. 


THE  CONTENTED 


AFTER  a  long  and  soaking 
rain,  the  Earthworms  came 
out  of  their  burrows,  or 
rather,  they  came  part  way 
out,  for  each  Earthworm  put 
out  half  of  his  body,  and,  as 
there  were  many  of  them 
and  they  lived  near  to  each 
other,  they  could  easily  visit 
without  leaving  their  own 
homes.  Two  of  these  long, 
slimy  people  were  talking, 
when  a  Potato  Bug  strolled 
by.  "You  poor  things," 
said  he,  "what  a  wretched 
life  you  must  lead.  Spend- 
ing one's  days  in  the  dark 
earth  must  be  very  dreary." 
76 


The  Contented  Earthworms.        77 

"  Dreary  ! "  exclaimed  one  of  the  Earth- 
worms, "  it  is  delightful.  The  earth  is  a 
snug  and  soft  home.  It  is  warm  in  cold 
weather  and  cool  in  warm  weather.  There 
are  no  winds  to  trouble  us,  and  no  sun  to 
scorch  us." 

"  But,"  said  the  Potato  Bug,  "  it  must 
be  very  dull.  Now,  out  in  the  grass,  one 
finds  beautiful  flowers,  and  so  many  fam- 
ilies of  friends." 

"  And  down  here,"  answered  the  Worm, 
"  we  have  the  roots.  Some  are  brown  and 
woody,  like  those  of  the  trees,  and  some 
are  white  and  slender  and  soft.  They 
creep  and  twine,  until  it  is  like  passing 
through  a  forest  to  go  among  them.  And 
then,  there  are  the  seeds.  Such  busy  times 
as  there  are  in  the  ground  in  spring-time  ! 
Each  tiny  seed  awakens  and  begins  to 
grow.  Its  roots  must  strike  downward, 
and  its  stalk  upward  toward  the  light. 
Sometimes  the  seeds  are  buried  in  the 
earth  with  the  root  end  up,  and  then  they 


78        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

have  a  great  time  getting  twisted  around 
and  ready  to  grow." 

"  Still,  after  the  plants  are  all  growing 
and  have  their  heads  in  the  air,  you  must 
miss  them." 

"  We  have  the  roots  always,"  said  the 
Worm.  "  And  then,  when  the  summer 
is  over,  the  plants  have  done  their  work, 
helping  to  make  the  world  beautiful  and 
raise  their  seed  babies,  and  they  wither 
and  droop  to  the  earth  again,  and  little 
by  little  the  sun  and  the  frost  and  the  rain 
help  them  to  melt  back  into  the  earth. 
The  earth  is  the  beginning  and  the  end  of 
plants." 

"  Do  you  ever  meet  the  meadow  people 
in  it  ?  "  asked  the  Potato  Bug. 

"  Many  of  them  live  here  as  babies," 
said  the  Worm.  "  The  May  Beetles,  the 
Grasshoppers,  the  great  Humming-bird 
Moths,  and  many  others  spend  their  baby- 
hood here,  all  wrapped  in  eggs  or  cocoons. 
Then,  when  they  are  strong  enough,  and 


The  Contented  Earthworms.        79 

their  legs  and  wings  are  grown,  they  push 
their  way  out  and  begin  their  work.  It  is 
their  getting-ready  time,  down  here  in  the 
dark.  And  then,  there  are  the  stones, 
and  they  are  so  old  and  queer.  I  am 
often  glad  that  I  am  not  a  stone,  for  to 
have  to  lie  still  must  be  hard  to  bear.  Yet  I 
have  heard  that  they  did  not  always  lie  so, 
and  that  some  of  the  very  pebbles  around 
us  tossed  and  rolled  and  ground  for  years 
in  the  bed  of  a  river,  and  that  some  of 
them  were  rubbed  and  broken  off  of  great 
rocks.  Perhaps  they  are  glad  now  to  just 
lie  and  rest." 

"  Truly,"  said  the  Potato  Bug,  "  you 
have  a  pleasant  home,  but  give  me  the 
sunshine  and  fresh  air,  my  six  legs,  and 
my  striped  wings,  and  you  are  welcome 
to  it  all." 

"You  are  welcome  to  them  all,"  an- 
swered the  Worms,  "  We  are  contented 
with  smooth  and  shining  bodies,  with 
which  we  can  bore  and  wriggle  our  way 


8o        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

through  the  soft,  brown  earth.  We  like 
our  task  of  keeping  the  earth  right  for 
the  plants,  and  we  will  work  and  rest 
happily  here." 

The  Potato  Bug  went  his  way,  and  said 
to  his  brothers,  "  What  do  you  think  ?  I 
have  been  talking  with  Earthworms  who 
would  not  be  Potato  Bugs  if  they  could." 
And  they  all  shook  their  heads  in  wonder, 
for  they  thought  that  to  be  Potato  Bugs 
was  the  grandest  and  happiest  thing  in 
the  world. 


THE  MEASURING  WOI^D  JOKCf]  I 


ONE  day  there  crawled 
over  the  meadow  fence  a 
jolly  young  Measuring 
Worm.  He  came  from  a 
bush  by  the  roadside,  and 
although  he  was  still  a 
young  Worm  he  had 
kept  his  eyes  open  and 
had  a  very  good  idea  how 
things  go  in  this  world. 
"  Now,"  thought  he,  as 
he  rested  on  the  top  rail 
of  the  fence,  "  I  shall 
meet  some  new  friends. 
I  do  hope  they  will  be 
Si 


82        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

pleasant.  I  will  look  about  me  and  see  if 
anyone  is  in  sight."  So  he  raised  his 
head  high  in  the  air  and,  sure  enough, 
there  were  seven  Caterpillars  of  different 
kinds  on  a  tall  clump  of  weeds  near  by. 

The  Measuring  Worm  hurried  over  to 
where  they  were,  and  making  his  best 
bow  said :  "  I  have  just  come  from  the 
roadside  and  think  I  shall  live  in  the 
meadow.  May  I  feed  with  you  ?  " 

The  Caterpillars  were  all  glad  to  have 
him,  and  he  joined  their  party.  He 
asked  many  questions  about  the  meadow, 
and  the  people  who  lived  there,  and  the 
best  place  to  find  food.  The  Caterpillars 
said,  "  Oh,  the  meadow  is  a  good  place, 
and  the  people  are  nice  enough,  but  they 
are  not  at  all  fashionable — not  at  all." 

"  Why,"  said  the  Measuring  Worm,  "  if 
you  have  nice  people  and  a  pleasant  place 
in  which  to  live,  I  don't  see  what  more 
you  need." 

•'  That  is  all  very  well,"  said  a  black  and 


The  Measuring  Worm's  Joke.       83 

yellow  Caterpillar,  "  but  what  we  want 
is  fashionable  society.  The  meadow  peo- 
ple always  do  things  in  the  same  way, 
and  one  gets  so  tired  of  that.  Now  can 
you  not  tell  us  something  different,  some- 
thing that  Worms  do  in  the  great  world 
from  which  you  come  ? " 

Just  at  this  minute  the  Measuring 
Worm  had  a  funny  idea,  and  he  wondered 
if  the  Caterpillars  would  be  foolish  enough 
to  copy  him.  He  thought  it  would  be  a 
good  joke  if  they  did,  so  he  said  very  sober- 
ly, "I  notice  that  when  you  walk  you  keep 
your  body  quite  close  to  the  ground.  I 
have  seen  many  Worms  do  the  same 
thing,  and  it  is  all  right  if  they  wish  to, 
but  none  of  my  family  ever  do  so.  Did 
you  notice  how  I  walk  ?  " 

"Yes,  yes,"  cried  the  Caterpillars,  "show 
us  again." 

So  the  Measuring  Worm  walked  back 
and  forth  for  them,  arching  his  body  as 
high  as  he  could,  and  stopping  every  little 


84        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

while  to  raise  his  head  and  look  haughtily 
around. 

"  What  grace  ! "  exclaimed  the  Cater- 
pillars. "  What  grace,  and  what  style  ! " 
and  one  black  and  brown  one  tried  to  walk 
in  the  same  way. 

The  Measuring  Worm  wanted  to  laugh 
to  see  how  awkward  the  black  and  brown 
Caterpillar  was,  but  he  did  not  even  smile, 
and  soon  every  one  of  the  Caterpillars 
was  trying  the  same  thing,  and  saying 
"Look  at  me.  Don't  I  do  well?"  or, 
"How  was  that?" 

You  can  just  imagine  how  those  seven 
Caterpillars  looked  when  trying  to  walk 
like  the  Measuring  Worm.  Every  few 
minutes  one  of  them  would  tumble  over, 
and  they  all  got  warm  and  tired.  At  last 
they  thought  they  had  learned  it  very  well, 
and  took  a  long  rest,  in  which  they  planned 
to  take  a  long  walk  and  show  the  other 
meadow  people  the  fashion  they  had  re- 
ceived from  the  outside  world. 


The  Measuring  Worm's  Joke.       85 

"  We  will  walk  in  a  line,"  they  said,  "  as 
far  as  we  can,  and  let  them  all  see  us. 
Ah,  it  will  be  a  great  day  for  the  meadow 
when  we  begin  to  set  the  fashions  ! " 

The  mischievous  young  Measuring 
Worm  said  not  a  word,  and  off  they 
started.  The  big  black  and  yellow  Cater- 
pillar went  first,  the  black  and  brown  one 
next,  and  so  on  down  to  the  smallest  one  at 
the  end  of  the  line,  all  arching  their  bodies 
as  high  as  they  could.  All  the  meadow 
people  stared  at  them,  calling  each  other 
to  come  and  look,  and  whenever  the 
Caterpillars  reached  a  place  where  there 
were  many  watching  them,  they  would  all 
raise  their  heads  and  look  around  exactly 
as  the  Measuring  Worm  had  done.  When 
they  got  back  to  their  clump  of  bushes, 
they  had  the  most  dreadful  backaches,  but 
they  said  to  each  other,  "  Well,  we  have 
been  fashionable  for  once." 

And,  at  the  same  time,  out  in  the 
grass,  the  meadow  people  were  saying, 


86        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

"  Did  you  ever  see  anything  so  ridicu- 
lous in  your  life?"  All  of  which  goes 
to  show  how  very  silly  people  some- 
times are  when  they  think  too  much  of 
being  fashionable. 


A  PUZZLED  CICADA 


SEVENTEEN  years  is  a  long, 
long  time  to  be  getting  ready 
to  fly ;  yet  that  is  what  the 
Seventeen-year  Locusts,  or 
Cicadas,   have   to   expect. 
First,  they  lie  for  a  long 
time   in  eggs,   down    in 
the  earth.     Then,  when 
they  awaken,  and  crawl 
out  of  their  shells,  they 
must      grow      strong 
enough  to  dig  before 
they    can    make    their 
way   out   to   where    the 
87 


88        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

beautiful  green  grass  is  growing  and  wav- 
ing in  the  wind. 

The  Cicada  who  got  so  very  much  puz- 
zled had  not  been  long  out  of  his  home  in 
the  warm,  brown  earth.  He  was  the  only 
Cicada  anywhere  around,  and  it  was  very 
lonely  for  him.  However,  he  did  not 
mind  that  so  much  when  he  was  eating, 
or  singing,  or  resting  in  the  sunshine,  and 
as  he  was  either  eating,  or  singing,  or  rest- 
ing in  the  sunshine  most  of  the  time,  he 
got  along  fairly  well. 

Because  he  was  young  and  healthy  he 
grew  fast.  He  grew  so  very  fast  that 
after  a  while  he  began  to  feel  heavy  and 
stiff,  and  more  like  sitting  still  than  like 
crawling  around.  Beside  all  this,  his  skin 
got  tight,  and  you  can  imagine  how  un- 
comfortable it  must  be  to  have  one's  skin 
too  tight.  He  was  sitting  on  the  branch 
of  a  bush  one  day,  thinking  about  the 
wonderful  great  world,  when — pop  ! — his 
skin  had  cracked  open  right  down  the 


A  Puzzled  Cicada.  89 

middle  of  his  back !  The  poor  Cicada 
was  badly  frightened  at  first,  but  then  it 
seemed  so  good  and  roomy  that  he  took  a 
deep  breath,  and — pop! — the  crack  was 
longer  still ! 

The  Cicada  found  that  he  had  another 
whole  skin  under  the  outside  one  which 
had  cracked,  so  he  thought,  "  How  much 
cooler  and  more  comfortable  I  shall  be  if 
I  crawl  out  of  this  broken  covering,"  and 
out  he  crawled. 

It  was  n't  very  easy  work,  because  he 
did  n't  have  anybody  to  help  him.  He 
had  to  hook  the  claws  of  his  outer  skin 
into  the  bark  of  the  branch,  hook  them 
in  so  hard  that  they  could  n't  pull  out, 
and  then  he  began  to  wriggle  out  of  the 
back  of  his  own  skin.  It  was  exceedingly 
hard  work,  and  the  hardest  of  all  was  the 
pulling  his  legs  out  of  their  cases.  He 
was  so  tired  when  he  got  free  that  he 
could  hardly  think,  and  his  new  skin  was 
so  soft  and  tender  that  he  felt  limp  and 


90        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

queer.  He  found  that  he  had  wings  of  a 
pretty  green,  the  same  color  as  his  legs. 
He  knew  these  wings  must  have  been  grow- 
ing under  his  old  skin,  and  he  stretched 
them  slowly  out  to  see  how  big  they  were. 
This  was  in  the  morning,  and  after  he  had 
stretched  his  wings  he  went  to  sleep  for  a 
long  time. 

When  he  awakened,  the  sun  was  in  the 
western  sky,  and  he  tried  to  think  who  he 
was.  He  looked  at  himself,  and  instead 
of  being  green  he  was  a  dull  brown  and 
black.  Then  he  saw  his  old  skin  clinging 
to  the  branch  and  staring  him  in  the  face. 
It  was  just  the  same  shape  as  when  he  was 
in  it,  and  he  thought  for  a  minute  that  he 
was  dreaming.  He  rubbed  his  head  hard 
with  his  front  legs  to  make  sure  he  was 
awake,  and  then  he  began  to  wonder  which 
one  he  was.  Sometimes  he  thought  that 
the  old  skin  which  clung  to  the  bush  was 
the  Cicada  that  had  lain  so  long  in  the 
ground,  and  sometimes  he  thought  that 


A  Puzzled  Cicada.  91 

the  soft,  fat,  new-looking  one  was  the 
Cicada.  Or  were  both  of  them  the  Ci- 
cada ?  If  he  were  only  one  of  the  two, 
what  would  he  do  with  the  other  ? 

While  he  was  wondering  about  this  in 
a  sleepy  way,  an  old  Cicada  from  across 
the  river  flew  down  beside  him.  He 
thought  he  would  ask  her,  so  he  waved 
his  feelers  as  politely  as  he  knew  how,  and 
said,  "  Excuse  me,  Madam  Cicada,  for  I 
am  much  puzzled.  It  took  me  seventeen 
years  to  grow  into  a  strong,  crawling  Ci- 
cada, and  then  in  one  day  I  separated. 
The  thinking,  moving  part  of  me  is  here, 
but  the  outside  shell  of  me  is  there  on 
that  branch.  Now,  which  part  is  the  real 
Cicada?" 

"  Why,  that  is  easy  enough,"  said  the 
Madam  Cicada;  "You  arejy^%  of  course. 
The  part  that  you  cast  off  and  left  cling- 
ing to  the  branch  was  very  useful  once. 
It  kept  you  warm  on  cold  days  and  cool 
on  warm  days,  and  you  needed  it  while 


92        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

you  were  only  a  crawling  creature.  But 
when  your  wings  were  ready  to  carry  you 
off  to  a  higher  and  happier  life,  then  the 
skin  that  had  been  a  help  was  in  your  way, 
and  you  did  right  to  wriggle  out  of  it.  It 
is  no  longer  useful  to  you.  Leave  it 
where  it  is  and  fly  off  to  enjoy  your  new 
life.  You  will  never  have  trouble  if  you 
remember  that  the  thinking  part  is  the 
real  you." 

And  then  Madam  Cicada  and  her  new 
friend  flew  away  to  her  home  over  the 
river,  and  he  saw  many  strange  sights  be- 
fore he  returned  to  the  meadow. 


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THE 

FRpG^ 


IN  all  the  meadow  there  was 
nobody  who   could   tell    such 
interesting   stories   as   the  old 
Tree  Frog.     Even  the  Garter 
Snake,  who  had  been  there  the 
longest,  and  the  old  Cricket,  who 
had  lived  in  the  farm-yard,  could 
tell  no  such  exciting  tales  as  the 
Tree   Frog.     All   the   wonderful 
things  of  which  he  told  had  hap- 
pened   before    he    came   to   the 
meadow,  and  while  he  was  still  a  young 
Frog.     None  of  his  friends  had  known 
him  then,  but  he  was  an   honest  fellow, 

93 


94        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

and  they  were  sure  that  everything  he 
told  was  true :  besides,  they  must  be  true, 
for  how  could  a  body  ever  think  out  such 
remarkable  tales  from  his  own  head  ? 

When  he  first  came  to  his  home  by  the 
elm  tree  he  was  very  thin,  and  looked  as 
though  he  had  been  sick.  The  Katydids 
who  stayed  near  said  that  he  croaked  in 
his  sleep,  and  that,  you  know,  is  not  what 
well  and  happy  Frogs  should  do. 

One  day  when  many  of  the  meadow 
people  were  gathered  around  him,  he  told 
them  his  story.  "  When  I  was  a  little 
fellow,"  he  said,  "  I  was  strong  and  well, 
and  could  leap  farther  than  any  other 
Frog  of  my  size.  I  was  hatched  in  the 
pond  beyond  the  farm-house,  and  ate  my 
way  from  the  egg  to  the  water  outside 
like  any  other  Frog.  Perhaps  I  ought  to 
say,  *  like  any  other  Tadpole,'  for,  of  course, 
I  began  life  as  a  Tadpole.  I  played  and 
ate  with  my  brothers  and  sisters,  and  little 
dreamed  what  trouble  was  in  store  for  me 


The  Tree  Frog's  Story.  95 

when  I  grew  up.  We  were  all  in  a  hurry 
to  be  Frogs,  and  often  talked  of  what  we 
would  do  and  how  far  we  would  travel 
when  we  were  grown. 

"  Oh,  how  happy  we  were  then  !  I  re* 
member  the  day  when  my  hind  legs  began 
to  grow,  and  how  the  other  Tadpoles 
crowded  around  me  in  the  water  and  swam 
close  to  me  to  feel  the  two  little  bunches 
that  were  to  be  legs.  My  fore  legs  did 
not  grow  until  later,  and  these  bunches 
came  just  in  front  of  my  tail." 

"  Your  tail ! "  cried  a  puzzled  young 
Cricket ;  "  why,  you  have  n't  any  tail ! " 

"I  did  have  when  I  was  a  Tadpole," 
said  the  Tree  Frog.  "  I  had  a  beautiful, 
wiggly  little  tail  with  which  to  swim 
through  the  waters  of  the  pond;  but  as 
my  legs  grew  larger  and  stronger,  my  tail 
grew  littler  and  weaker,  until  there  was  n't 
any  tail  left.  By  the  time  my  tail  was 
gone  I  had  four  good  legs,  and  could 
breathe  through  both  my  nose  and  my 


96        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

skin.  The  knobs  on  the  ends  of  my  toes 
were  sticky,  so  that  I  could  climb  a  tree, 
and  then  I  was  ready  to  start  on  my 
travels.  Some  of  the  other  Frogs  started 
with  me,  but  they  stopped  along  the  way, 
and  at  last  I  was  alone. 

"  I  was  a  bold  young  fellow,  and  when 
I  saw  a  great  white  thing  among  the  trees 
up  yonder,  I  made  up  my  mind  to  see 
what  it  was.  There  was  a  great  red  thing 
in  the  yard  beside  it,  but  I  liked  the  white 
one  better.  I  hopped  along  as  fast  as  I 
could,  for  I  did  not  then  know  enough  to 
be  afraid.  I  got  close  up  to  them  both, 
and  saw  strange,  big  creatures  going  in 
and  out  of  the  red  thing — the  barn,  as  I 
afterward  found  it  was  called.  The  largest 
creatures  had  four  legs,  and  some  of  them 
had  horns.  The  smaller  creatures  had 
only  two  legs  on  which  to  walk,  and  two 
other  limbs  of  some  sort  with  which  they 
lifted  and  carried  things.  The  queerest 
thing  about  it  was,  that  the  smaller  creat- 


The  Tree  Frog's  Story.  97 

ures  seemed  to  make  the  larger  ones  do 
whatever  they  wanted  them  to.  They 
even  made  some  of  them  help  do  their 
work.  You  may  not  believe  me,  but  what 
I  tell  you  is  true.  I  saw  two  of  the  larger 
ones  tied  to  a  great  load  of  dried  grass 
and  pulling  it  into  the  barn. 

"  As  you  may  guess,  I  stayed  there  a 
long  time,  watching  these  strange  creat- 
ures work.  Then  I  went  over  toward 
the  white  thing,  and  that,  I  found  out, 
was  the  farm-house.  Here  were  more  of 
the  two-legged  creatures,  but  they  were 
dressed  differently  from  those  in  the  barn. 
There  were  some  bright-colored  flowers 
near  the  house,  and  I  crawled  in  among 
them.  There  I  rested  until  sunset,  and 
then  began  my  evening  song.  While  I 
was  singing,  one  of  the  people  from  the 
house  came  out  and  found  me.  She 
picked  me  up  and  carried  me  inside.  Oh, 
how  frightened  I  was  !  My  heart  thumped 
as  though  it  would  burst,  and  I  tried  my 


98        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

best  to  get  away  from  her.     She  did  n't 
hurt  me  at  all,  but  she  would  not  let  me 


"  She  put  me  in  a  very  queer  prison. 
At  first,  when  she  put  me  down  on  a  stone 
in  some  water,  I  did  not  know  that  I  was 
in  prison.  I  tried  to  hop  away,  and  — 
bump  !  went  my  head  against  something. 
Yet  when  I  drew  back,  I  could  see  no  wall 
there.  I  tried  it  again  and  again,  and 
every  time  I  hurt  my  head.  I  tell  you 
the  truth,  my  friends,  those  walls  were 
made  of  something  which  one  could  see 
through." 

"  Wonderful  !"  exclaimed  all  the  meadow 
people  ;  "wonderful,  indeed!" 

"  And  at  the  top,"  continued  the  Tree 
Frog,  "  was  something  white  over  the 
doorway  into  my  prison.  In  the  bottom 
were  water  and  a  stone,  and  from  the  bot- 
tom to  the  top  was  a  ladder.  There  I 
had  to  live  for  most  of  the  summer.  I 
had  enough  to  eat  ;  but  anybody  who  has 


The  Tree  Frog's  Story.  99 

been  free  cannot  be  happy  shut  in.  I 
watched  my  chance,  and  three  times  I  got 
out  when  the  little  door  was  not  quite 
closed.  Twice  I  was  caught  and  put  back. 
In  the  pleasant  weather,  of  course,  I  went 
to  the  top  of  the  ladder,  and  when  it  was 
going  to  rain  I  would  go  down  again. 
Every  time  that  I  went  up  or  down,  those 
dreadful  creatures  would  put  their  faces 
up  close  to  my  prison,  and  I  could  hear  a 
roaring  sound  which  meant  they  were 
talking  and  laughing. 

"  The  last  time  I  got  out,  I  hid  near  the 
door  of  the  house,  and  although  they 
hunted  and  hunted  for  me,  they  did  n't 
find  me.  After  they  stopped  hunting,  the 
wind  blew  the  door  open,  and  I  hopped 
out." 

"You  don't  say!"  exclaimed  a  Grass- 
hopper. 

"  Yes,  I  hopped  out  and  scrambled 
away  through  the  grass  as  fast  as  ever  I 
could.  You  people  who  have  never  been 


TOO      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

in  prison  cannot  think  how  happy  I  was. 
It  seemed  to  me  that  just  stretching  my 
legs  was  enough  to  make  me  wild  with 
joy.  Well,  I  came  right  here,  and  you 
were  all  kind  to  me,  but  for  a  long  time  I 
could  not  sleep  without  dreaming  that  I 
was  back  in  prison,  and  I  would  croak  in 
my  sleep  at  the  thought  of  it." 

"  I  heard  you,"  cried  the  Katydid,  "  and 
I  wondered  what  was  the  matter." 

"  Matter  enough,"  said  the  Tree  Frog. 
"  It  makes  my  skin  dry  to  think  of  it  now. 
And,  friends,  the  best  way  I  can  ever  re- 
pay your  kindness  to  me,  is  to  tell  you  to 
never,  never,  never,  never  go  near  the 
farm-house." 

And  they  all  answered,  "We  never 
will." 


THE    DAY   WHEN    THE    GRASS 
WAS  CUT. 

THERE  came  a  day  when  all  the  meadow 
people  rushed  back  and  forth,  waving 
their  feelers  and  talking  hurriedly  to 
each  other.  The  fat  old  Cricket  was 
nowhere  to  be  seen.  He  said  that  one 
of  his  legs  was  lame  and  he  thought  it 
best  to  stay  quietly  in  his  hole.  The 
young  Crickets  thought  he  was  afraid. 
Perhaps  he  was,  but  he  said  that  he 
was  lame. 

All  the  insects  who  had  holes  crawled 
into  them  carrying  food.  Everybody  was 
anxious  and  fussy,  and  some  people  were 
even  cross.  It  was  all  because  the  farmer 
and  his  men  had  come  into  the  meadow 
to  cut  the  grass.  They  began  to  work 


IO2      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

on  the  side  nearest  the  road,  but  every 
step  which  the  Horses  took  brought  the 
mower  nearer  to  the  people  who  lived  in 
the  middle  of  the  meadow  or  down  to- 
ward the  river. 

"  I  have  seen  this  done  before,"  said 
the  Garter  Snake.  "  I  got  away  from 
the  big  mower,  and  hid  in  the  grass  by  the 
trees,  or  by  the  stumps  where  the  mower 
could  n't  come.  Then  the  men  came  and 
cut  that  grass  with  their  scythes,  and  I 
had  to  wriggle  away  over  the  short,  sharp 
grass-stubble  to  my  hole.  When  they 
get  near  me  this  time,  I  shall  go  into  my 
hole  and  stay  there." 

"  They  are  not  so  bad  after  all/'  said 
the  Tree  Frog.  "  I  like  them  better  out- 
of-doors  than  I  did  in  the  house.  They 
saw  me  out  here  once  and  did  n't  try  to 
catch  me." 

A  Meadow  Mouse  came  hurrying  along. 
"  I  must  get  home  to  my  babies,"  she  said. 
"They  will  be  frightened  if  I  am  not  there." 


The  Day  when  the  Grass  was  Cut.   103 

"  Much  good  you  can  do  when  you  are 
there  ! "  growled  a  voice  down  under  her 
feet.  She  was  standing  over  the  hole 
where  the  fat  old  Cricket  was  with  his 
lame  leg. 

The  mother  Meadow  Mouse  looked 
rather  angry  for  a  minute,  and  then  she 
answered :  "  I  'm  not  so  very  large  and 
strong,  but  I  can  squeak  and  let  the 
Horses  know  where  the  nest  is.  Then 
they  won't  step  on  it.  Last  year  I  had 
ten  or  twelve  babies  there,  and  one  of 
the  men  picked  them  up  and  looked  at 
them  and  then  put  them  back.  I  was 
so  frightened  that  my  fur  stood  on  end 
and  I  shook  like  June  grass  in  the  wind." 

"  Humph  !  Too  scared  to  run  away," 
said  the  voice  under  her  feet. 

"  Mothers  don't  run  away  and  leave 
their  children  in  danger,  "  answered  the 
Meadow  Mouse.  "  I  think  it  is  a  great 
deal  braver  to  be  brave  when  you  are 
afraid  than  it  is  to  be  brave  when  you  're 


IO4      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

not  afraid."  She  whisked  her  long  tail 
and  scampered  off  through  the  grass. 
She  did  not  go  the  nearest  way  to  her 
nest  because  she  thought  the  Garter 
Snake  might  be  watching.  She  did  n't 
wish  him  to  know  where  she  lived.  She 
knew  he  was  fond  of  young  Mice,  and 
did  n't  want  him  to  come  to  see  her  babies 
while  she  was  away.  She  said  he  was 
not  a  good  friend  for  young  children. 

"We  don't  mind  it  at  all,"  said  the 
Mosquitoes  from  the  lower  part  of  the 
meadow.  "  We  are  unusually  hungry  to- 
day anyway,  and  we  shall  enjoy  having 
the  men  come." 

"  Nothing  to  make  such  a  fuss  over," 
said  a  Milkweed  Butterfly.  "  Just  crawl 
into  your  holes  or  fly  away." 

"  Sometimes  they  step  on  the  holes 
and  close  them,"  said  an  Ant.  "  What 
would  you  do  if  you  were  in  a  hole  and 
it  stopped  being  a  hole  and  was  just 
earth  ?  " 


The  Day  when  the  Grass  was  Cut.   105 

"Crawl  out,  I  suppose,"  answered  the 
Milkweed  Butterfly  with  a  careless  flutter. 

"  Yes,"  said  the  Ant,  "  but  I  don't  see 
what  there  would  be  to  crawl  out 
through." 

The  Milkweed  Butterfly  was  already 
gone.  Butterflies  never  worry  about  any- 
thing very  long,  you  know. 

"  Has  anybody  seen  the  Measuring 
Worm  ?  "  asked  the  Katydid.  "  Where 
is  he  ?  " 

"Oh,  I  'm  up  a  tree,"  answered  a 
pleasant  voice  above  their  heads,  "  but  I 
sha'n't  be  up  a  tree  very  long.  I  shall 
come  down  when  the  grass  is  cut." 

"  Oh,  dear,  dear,  dear  !  "  cried  the  Ants, 
hurrying  around.  "  We  can't  think  what 
we  want  to  do.  We  don't  know  what  we 
ought  to  do.  We  can't  think  and  we 
don't  know,  and  we  don't  think  that 
we  ought  to  ! " 

"  Click  ! "  said  a  Grasshopper,  spring- 
ing into  the  air.  "  We  must  hurry,  hurry, 


106      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

hurry ! "  He  jumped  from  a  stalk  of 
pepper-grass  to  a  plantain.  "We  must 
hurry,"  he  said,  and  he  jumped  from  the 
plantain  back  to  the  pepper-grass. 

Up  in  the  tree  where  the  Measuring 
Worm  was,  some  Katydids  were  sitting 
on  a  branch  and  singing  shrilly :  "  Did 
you  ever  ?  Did  you  ever  ?  Ever  ?  Ever  ? 
Ever?  Did  you  ever  ?"  And  this  shows 
how  much  excited  they  were,  for  they 
usually  sang  only  at  night. 

Then  the  mower  came  sweeping  down 
the  field,  drawn  by  the  Blind  Horse  and 
the  Dappled  Gray,  and  guided  by  the 
farmer  himself.  The  dust  rose  in  clouds 
as  they  passed,  the  Grasshoppers  gave 
mighty  springs  which  took  them  out  of 
the  way,  and  all  the  singing  and  shrilling 
stopped  until  the  mower  had  passed.  The 
nodding  grasses  swayed  and  fell  as  the 
sharp  knives  slid  over  the  ground.  "  We 
are  going  to  be  hay,"  they  said,  "and 
live  in  the  big  barn." 


The  Day  when  the  Grass  was  Cut.   107 

"  Now  we  shall  grow  some  more  tender 
green  blades,"  said  the  grass  roots. 

"  Fine  weather  for  haying,"  snorted  the 
Dappled  Gray.  "We  '11  cut  all  the  grass 
in  this  field  before  noon." 

"  Good  feeling  ground  to  walk  on," 
said  the  Blind  Horse,  tossing  his  head 
until  the  harness  jingled. 

Then  the  Horses  and  the  farmer  and 
the  mower  passed  far  away,  and  the 
meadow  people  came  together  again. 

"  Well,"  said  the  Tree  Frog.  "  That 's 
over  for  a  while." 

The  Ants  and  the  Grasshoppers  came 
back  to  their  old  places.  "  We  did  just 
the  right  thing,"  they  cried  joyfully. 
"  We  got  out  of  the  way." 

The  Measuring  Worm  and  the  Katy- 
dids came  down  from  their  tree  as  the 
Milkweed  Butterfly  fluttered  past.  "  The 
men  left  the  grass  standing  around 
the  Meadow  Mouse's  nest,"  said  the 
Milkweed  Butterfly,  "  and  the  Cows  up 


io8      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

by  the  barn  are  telling  how  glad  they 
will  be  to  have  the  hay  when  the  cold 
weather  comes." 

"  Grass  must  grow  and  hay  be  cut," 
said  the  wise  old  Tree  Frog,  "  and  when 
the  time  comes  we  always  know  what  to 
do.  Puk-rup  !  Puk-r-r-rup  ! " 

"  I  think,"  said  the  fat  old  Cricket,  as 
he  crawled  out  of  his  hole,  "  that  my 
lame  leg  is  well  enough  to  use.  There 
is  nothing  like  rest  for  a  lame  leg." 


HOPPER  And 
theMEA5UR 

INGWORM 

A  FEW  days  after  the 

Measuring  Worm  came 
to  the  meadow  he  met  the  Grass- 
hoppers. Everybody  had  heard  of 
the  Caterpillars'  wish  to  be  fashion- 
able, and  some  of  the  young  Grass- 
hoppers, who  did  not  know  that  it  was  all 
a  joke,  said  they  would  like  to  teach  the 
Measuring  Worm  a  few  things.  So  when 
they  met  him  the  young  Grasshoppers  be- 
gan to  make  fun  of  him,  and  asked  him 
what  he  did  if  he  wanted  to  run,  and 
whether  he  did  n't  wish  his  head  grew  on 
109 


no      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

the  middle  of  his  back  so  that  he  could 
see  better  when  walking. 

The  Measuring  Worm  was  good-na- 
tured, and  only  said  that  he  found  his 
head  useful  where  it  was.  Soon  one  fine- 
looking  Grasshopper  asked  him  to  race. 
"  That  will  show,"  said  the  Grasshopper, 
"  which  is  the  better  traveller." 

The  Measuring  Worm  said :  "  Cer- 
tainly, I  will  race  with  you  to-morrow, 
and  we  will  ask  all  our  friends  to  look 
on."  Then  he  began  talking  about  some- 
thing else.  He  was  a  wise  young  fellow, 
as  well  as  a  jolly  one,  and  he  knew  the 
Grasshoppers  felt  sure  that  he  would  be 
beaten.  "If  I  cannot  win  the  race  by 
swift  running,"  thought  he,  "  I  must  try 
to  win  it  by  good  planning."  So  he  got 
the  Grasshoppers  to  go  with  him  to  a 
place  where  the  sweet  young  grass  grew, 
and  they  all  fed  together. 

The  Measuring  Worm  nibbled  only  a 
little  here  and  there,  but  he  talked  a  great 


Grasshopper  and  Measuring  Worm.  1 1 1 

deal  about  the  sweetness  of  the  grass,  and 
how  they  would  not  get  any  more  for  a 
long  time  because  the  hot  weather  would 
spoil  it.  And  the  Grasshoppers  said  to 
each  other :  "  He  is  right,  and  we  must 
eat  all  we  can  while  we  have  it."  So  they 
ate,  and  ate,  and  ate,  and  ate,  until  sun- 
set, and  in  the  morning  they  awakened 
and  began  eating  again.  When  the  time 
for  the  race  came,  they  were  all  heavy 
and  stupid  from  so  much  eating, — which 
was  exactly  what  the  Measuring  Worm 
wanted. 

The  Tree  Frog,  the  fat,  old  Cricket, 
and  a  Caterpillar  were  chosen  to  be  the 
judges,  and  the  race  was  to  be  a  long 
one, — from  the  edge  of  the  woods  to  the 
fence.  When  the  meadow  people  were 
all  gathered  around  to  see  the  race,  the 
Cricket  gave  a  shrill  chirp,  which  meant 
"  Go  ! "  and  off  they  started.  That  is  to 
say,  the  Measuring  Worm  started.  The 
Grasshopper  felt  so  sure  he  could  beat 


ii2       Among  the  Meadow  People. 

that  he  wanted  to  give  the  Measuring 
Worm  a  little  the  start,  because  then,  you 
see,  he  could  say  he  had  won  without  half 
trying. 

The  Measuring  Worm  started  off  at  a 
good,  steady  rate,  and  when  he  had  gone 
a  few  feet  the  Grasshopper  gave  a  couple 
of  great  leaps,  which  landed  him  far  ahead 
of  the  Worm.  Then  he  stopped  to  nibble 
a  blade  of  grass  and  visit  with  some  Katy- 
dids who  were  looking  on.  By  and  by  he 
took  a  few  more  leaps  and  passed  the 
Measuring  Worm  again.  This  time  he 
began  to  show  off  by  jumping  up  straight 
into  the  air,  and  when  he  came  down  he 
would  call  out  to  those  who  stood  near  to 
see  how  strong  he  was  and  how  easy  it 
would  be  for  him  to  win  the  race.  And 
everybody  said,  "  How  strong  he  is,  to  be 
sure  ! "  "  What  wonderful  legs  he  has  !  " 
and  "  He  could  beat  the  Measuring  Worm 
with  his  eyes  shut ! "  which  made  the  Grass- 
hopper so  exceedingly  vain  that  he  stopped 


Grasshopper  and  Measuring  Worm.  113 

more  and  more  often  to  show  his  strength 
and  daring. 

That  was  the  way  it  went,  until  they 
were  only  a  short  distance  from  the  end 
of  the  race  course.  The  Grasshopper 
was  more  and  more  pleased  to  think  how 
easily  he  was  winning,  and  stopped  for  a 
last  time  to  nibble  grass  and  make  fun  of 
the  Worm.  He  gave  a  great  leap  into 
the  air,  and  when  he  came  down  there 
was  the  Worm  on  the  fence  !  All  the 
meadow  people  croaked,  and  shrilled,  and 
chirped  to  see  the  way  in  which  the  race 
ended,  and  the  Grasshopper  was  very 
much  vexed.  "  You  should  n't  call  him 
the  winner,"  he  said ;  "  I  can  travel  ten 
times  as  fast  as  he,  if  I  try." 

"Yes,"  answered  the  judges,  "we  all 
know  that,  yet  the  winning  of  the  race  is 
not  decided  by  what  you  might  do,  but  by 
what  you  did  do."  And  the  meadow  people 
all  cried :  "  Long  live  the  Measuring 
Worm !  Long  live  the  Measuring  Worm ! " 


IMS  GREEN 
AND  HIS  MSITOIl$ 


ONE  day  a  young  Frog 
who  lived  down  by  the 
river,  came  hopping  up 
through  the  meadow.  He 
was  a  fine-looking  fellow, 
all  brown  and  green,  with 
a  white  vest,  and  he  came 
to  see  the  sights.  The 
oldest  Frog  on  the  river 
bank  had  told  him  that  he 


Mr.  Green  Frog  and  his  Visitors     115 

ought  to  travel  and  learn  to  know  the 
world,  so  he  had  started  at  once. 

Young  Mr.  Green  Frog  had  very  big 
eyes,  and  they  stuck  out  from  his  head 
more  than  ever  when  he  saw  all  the 
strange  sights  and  heard  all  the  strange 
sounds  of  the  meadow.  Yet  he  made  one 
great  mistake,  just  as  bigger  and  better 
people  sometimes  do  when  they  go  on  a 
journey ;  he  did  n't  try  to  learn  from  the 
things  he  saw,  but  only  to  show  off  to  the 
meadow  people  how  much  he  already 
knew,  and  he  boasted  a  great  deal  of  the 
fine  way  in  which  he  lived  when  at  home. 

Mr.  Green  Frog  told  those  whom  he 
met  that  the  meadow  was  dreadfully  dry, 
and  that  he  really  could  not  see  how  they 
lived  there.  He  said  they  ought  to  see 
the  lovely  soft  mud  that  there  was  in  the 
marsh,  and  that  there  the  people  could  sit 
all  day  with  their  feet  in  water  in  among 
the  rushes  where  the  sunshine  never  came. 
"  And  then,"  he  said,  "to  eat  grass  as  the 


u6      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

Grasshoppers  did !  If  they  would  go 
home  with  him,  he  would  show  them  how 
to  live." 

The  older  Grasshoppers  and  Crickets 
and  Locusts  only  looked  at  each  other 
and  opened  their  funny  mouths  in  a  smile, 
but  the  young  ones  thought  Mr.  Green 
Frog  must  be  right,  and  they  wanted  to 
go  back  with  him.  The  old  Hoppers  told 
them  that  they  would  n't  like  it  down 
there,  and  that  they  would  be  sorry  that 
they  had  gone ;  still  the  young  ones  teased 
and  teased  and  teased  and  teased  until 
everybody  said  :  "  Well,  let  them  go,  and 
then  perhaps  they  will  be  contented  when 
they  return." 

At  last  they  all  set  off  together, — Mr. 
Green  Frog  and  the  young  meadow  peo- 
ple. Mr.  Green  Frog  took  little  jumps 
all  the  way  and  bragged  and  bragged. 
The  Grasshoppers  went  in  long  leaps,  the 
Crickets  scampered  most  of  the  way,  and 
the  Locusts  fluttered.  It  was  a  very  gay 


Mr.  Green  Frog  and  his  Visitors.      1 1 7 

little  party,  and  they  kept  saying  to 
each  other,  "What  a  fine  time  we  shall 
have!" 

When  they  got  to  the  marsh,  Mr.  Green 
Frog  went  in  first  with  a  soft  "  plunk  "  in 
the  mud.  The  rest  all  followed  and  tried 
to  make  believe  that  they  liked  it,  but 
they  did  n't — they  did  n't  at  all.  The 
Grasshoppers  kept  bumping  against  the 
tough,  hard  rushes  when  they  jumped, 
and  then  that  would  tumble  them  over  on 
their  backs  in  the  mud,  and  there  they 
would  lie,  kicking  their  legs  in  the  air, 
until  some  friendly  Cricket  pushed  them 
over  on  their  feet  again.  The  Locusts 
could  n't  fly  at  all  there,  and  the  Crickets 
got  their  shiny  black  coats  all  grimy  and 
horrid. 

They  all  got  cold  and  wet  and  tired — 
yes,  and  hungry  too,  for  there  were  no 
tender  green  things  growing  in  among 
the  rushes.  Still  they  pretended  to  have 
a  good  time,  even  while  they  were  think- 


1 1 8      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

ing  how  they  would  like  to  be  in  their 
dear  old  home. 

After  the  sun  went  down  in  the  west  it 
grew  colder  still,  and  all  the  Frogs  in  the 
marsh  began  to  croak  to  the  moon,  croak- 
ing so  loudly  that  the  tired  little  travellers 
could  not  sleep  at  all.  When  the  Frogs 
stopped  croaking  and  went  to  sleep  in  the 
mud,  one  tired  Cricket  said  :  "  If  you  like 
this,  stay.  I  am  going  home  as  fast  as 
my  six  little  legs  will  carry  me."  And  all 
the  rest  of  the  travellers  said :  "  So  am  I," 
"  So  am  I,"  "  So  am  I." 

Mr.  Green  Frog  was  sleeping  soundly, 
and  they  crept  away  as  quietly  as  they 
could  out  into  the  silvery  moonlight  and 
up  the  bank  towards  home.  Such  a  tired 
little  party  as  they  were,  and  so  hungry 
that  they  had  to  stop  and  eat  every  little 
while.  The  dew  was  on  the  grass  and 
they  could  not  get  warm. 

The  sun  was  just  rising  behind  the 
eastern  forest  when  they  got  home.  They 


Mr.  Green  Frog  and  his  Visitors.     1 19 

did  not  want  to  tell  about  their  trip  at  all, 
but  just  ate  a  lot  of  pepper-grass  to  make 
them  warm,  and  then  rolled  themselves 
in  between  the  woolly  mullein  leaves  to 
rest  all  day  long.  And  that  was  the  last 
time  any  of  them  ever  went  away  with  a 
stranger. 


THE  DIGNIFIED  WALKING- 
STICKS. 

THREE  Walking-Sticks  from  the  forest 
had  come  to  live  in  the  big  maple  tree 
near  the  middle  of  the  meadow.  Nobody 
knew  exactly  why  they  had  left  the  forest, 
where  all  their  sisters  and  cousins  and 
aunts  lived.  Perhaps  they  were  not  happy 
with  their  relatives.  But  Hien,  if  one  is 
a  Walking-Stick,  you  know,  one  does  not 
care  so  very  much  about  one's  family. 

These  Walking-Sticks  had  grown  up 
the  best  way  they  could,  with  no  father 
or  mother  to  care  for  them.  They  had 
never  been  taught  to  do  anything  useful, 
or  to  think  much  about  other  people. 
When  they  were  hungry  they  ate  some 
leaves,  and  never  thought  what  they 


The  Dignified  Walking-Sticks.     121 

should  eat  the  next  time  that  they  hap- 
pened to  be  hungry.  When  they  were 
tired  they  went  to  sleep,  and  when  they 
had  slept  enough  they  awakened.  They 
had  nothing  to  do  but  to  eat  and  sleep, 
and  they  did  not  often  take  the  trouble  to 
think.  They  felt  that  they  were  a  little  bet- 
ter than  those  meadow  people  who  rushed 
and  scrambled  and  worked  from  morning 
until  night,  and  they  showed  very  plainly 
how  they  felt.  They  said  it  was  not 
genteel  to  hurry,  no  matter  what  happened. 

One  day  the  Tree  Frog  was  under  the 
tree  when  the  large  Brown  Walking-Stick 
decided  to  lay  some  eggs.  He  saw  her 
dropping  them  carelessly  around  on  the 
ground,  and  asked,  "  Do  you  never  fix 
a  place  for  your  eggs  ?  " 

"  A  place?  "said  the  Brown  Walking- 
Stick,  waving  her  long  and  slender  feelers 
to  and  fro.  "  A  place  ?  Oh,  no  !  I  think 
they  will  hatch  where  they  are.  It  is  too 
much  trouble  to  find  a  place." 


122      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

"  Puk-r-r-rup  ! "  said  the  Tree  Frog. 
"  Some  mothers  do  not  think  it  too  much 
trouble  to  be  careful  where  they  lay  eggs." 

"  That  may  be,"  said  the  Brown  Walk- 
ing-Stick, "but  they  do  not  belong  to  our 
family."  She  spoke  as  if  those  who  did 
not  belong  to  her  family  might  be  good 
but  could  never  be  genteel.  She  had 
once  told  her  brother,  the  Five- Legged 
Walking-Stick,  that  she  would  not  want 
to  live  if  she  could  not  be  genteel.  She 
thought  the  meadow  people  very  common. 

The  Five-Legged  Walking-Stick  looked 
much  like  his  sister.  He  had  the  same 
long,  slender  body,  the  same  long  feelers, 
and  the  same  sort  of  long,  slender  legs. 
If  you  had  passed  them  in  a  hay-field, 
you  would  surely  have  thought  each  a 
stem  of  hay,  unless  you  happened  to  see 
them  move.  The  other  Walking-Stick, 
their  friend,  was  younger  and  green.  You 
would  have  thought  her  a  blade  of  grass. 

It  is  true  that  the  brother  had  the  same 


The  Dignified  VValking-Sticks.     123 

kind  of  legs  as  his  sister,  but  he  did  not 
have  the  same  number.  When  he  was 
young  and  green  he  had  six,  then  came 
a  dreadful  day  when  a  hungry  Nuthatch 
saw  him,  flew  down,  caught  him,  and  car- 
ried him  up  a  tree.  He  knew  just  what 
to  expect,  so  when  the  Nuthatch  set  him 
down  on  the  bark  to  look  at  him,  he  un- 
hooked his  feet  from  the  bark  and  tum- 
bled to  the  ground.  The  Nuthatch  tried 
to  catch  him  and  broke  off  one  of  his  legs, 
but  she  never  found  him  again,  although 
she  looked  and  looked  and  looked  and 
looked.  That  was  because  he  crawled 
into  a  clump  of  ferns  and  kept  very  still. 

His  sister  came  and  looked  at  him  and 
said,  "  Now  if  you  were  only  a  Spider  it 
would  not  be  long  before  you  would  have 
six  legs  again." 

Her  brother  waved  first  one  feeler  and 
then  the  other,  and  said  :  "  Do  you  think 
I  would  be  a  Spider  for  the  sake  of  grow- 
ing legs  ?  I  would  rather  be  a  Walking- 


1 24      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

Stick  without  any  legs  than  to  be  a  Spider 
with  a  hundred."  Of  course,  you  know, 
Spiders  never  do  have  a  hundred,  and  a 
Walking-Stick  would  n't  be  walking  with- 
out any,  but  that  was  just  his  way  of 
speaking,  and  it  showed  what  kind  of 
insect  he  was.  His  relatives  all  waved 
their  feelers,  one  at  a  time,  and  said,  "  Ah, 
he  has  the  true  Walking-Stick  spirit ! " 
Then  they  paid  no  more  attention  to  him, 
and  after  a  while  he  and  his  sister  and 
their  green  little  friend  left  the  forest  for 
the  meadow. 

On  the  day  when  the  grass  was  cut,  they 
had  sat  quietly  in  their  trees  and  looked 
genteel.  Their  feelers  were  held  quite 
close  together,  and  they  did  not  move 
their  feet  at  all,  only  swayed  their  bodies 
gracefully  from  side  to  side.  Now  they 
were  on  the  ground,  hunting  through  the 
flat  piles  of  cut  grass  for  some  fresh  and 
juicy  bits  to  eat.  The  Tree  Frog  was 
also  out,  sitting  in  a  cool,  damp  corner  of 


The  Dignified  Walking-Sticks.     125 

the  grass  rows.  The  young  Grasshop- 
pers were  kicking  up  their  feet,  the  Ants 
were  scrambling  around  as  busy  as  ever, 
and  life  went  on  quite  as  though  neither 
men  nor  Horses  had  ever  entered  the 
meadow. 

"  See  !"  cried  a  Spider  who  was  busily 
looking  after  her  web,  "  there  comes  a 
Horse  drawing  something,  and  the  farmer 
sitting  on  it  and  driving." 

When  the  Horse  was  well  into  the 
meadow,  the  farmer  moved  a  bar,  and 
the  queer-looking  machine  began  to  kick 
the  grass  this  way  and  that  with  its  many 
stiff  and  shining  legs.  A  frisky  young 
Grasshopper  kicked  in  the  same  way,  and 
happened — just  happened,  of  course — to 
knock  over  two  of  his  friends.  Then 
there  was  a  great  scrambling  and  the 
Crickets  frolicked  with  them.  The  young 
Walking-Stick  thought  it  looked  like 
great  fun  and  almost  wished  herself  some 
other  kind  of  insect,  so  that  she  could 


126      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

tumble  around  in  the  same  way.  She 
did  not  quite  wish  it,  you  understand,  and 
would  never  have  thought  of  it  if  she  had 
turned  brown. 

"  Ah,"  said  the  Five-Legged  Walking- 
Stick,"  "  what  scrambling  !  How  very 
common  ! " 

"  Yes,  indeed  ! "  said  his  sister.  "  Why 
can't  they  learn  to  move  slowly  and  grace- 
fully ?  Perhaps  they  can't  help  being  fat, 
but  they  might  at  least  act  genteel." 

"What  is  it  to  be  genteel?"  asked  a 
Grasshopper  suddenly.  He  had  heard 
every  word  that  the  Walking- Stick  said. 

"  Why,"  said  the  Five-Legged  Walking- 
Stick,  "  it  is  just  to  be  genteel.  To  act 
as  you  see  us  act,  and  to " 

Just  here  the  hay-tedder  passed  over 
them,  and  every  one  of  the  Walking- 
Sticks  was  sent  flying  through  the  air  and 
landed  on  his  back.  The  Grasshoppers 
declare  that  the  Walking-Sticks  tumbled 
and  kicked  and  flopped  around  in  a  dread- 


The  Dignified  Walking-Sticks.     127 

fully  common  way  until  they  were  right 
side  up.  "  Why,"  said  the  Measuring 
Worm,  "  you  act  like  anybody  else  when 
the  hay-tedder  comes  along ! " 

The  Walking-Sticks  looked  very  un- 
comfortable, and  the  brother  and  sister 
could  not  think  of  anything  to  say.  It 
was  the  young  green  one  who  spoke  at 
last.  "I  think,"  said  she,  "that  it  is 
much  easier  to  act  genteel  when  one  is 
right  side  up." 


THE  OSV  OF  TTTt  CHEAT  STORM 


EVERYTHING  in  the  meadow 
was  dry  and  dusty.  The  leaves 
on  the  milkweeds  were  turn- 
ing yellow  with  thirst,  the  field 
blossoms  drooped  their  dainty 
heads  in  the  sunshine,  and  the 
grass  seemed  to  fairly  rattle  in 
the  wind,  it  was  so  brown  and 
dry. 

All  of  the  meadow  people 
when    they    met    each    other 
would  say,  "  Well,  this  is  hot," 
and  the  Garter  Snake,  who 

had  lived  there  longer  than  anyone  else, 

128 


The  Day  of  the  Great  Storm.      129 

declared  that  it  was  the  hottest  and  driest 
time  that  he  had  ever  known.  "  Really," 
he  said,  "  it  is  so  hot  that  I  cannot  eat, 
and  such  a  thing  never  happened  before." 

The  Grasshoppers  and  Locusts  were 
very  happy,  for  such  weather  was  exactly 
what  they  liked.  They  did  n't  see  how 
people  could  complain  of  such  delightful 
scorching  days.  But  that,  you  know,  is 
always  the  way,  for  everybody  cannot  be 
suited  at  once,  and  all  kinds  of  weather 
are  needed  to  make  a  good  year. 

The  poor  Tree  Frog  crawled  into  the 
coolest  place  he  could  find — hollow  trees, 
shady  nooks  under  the  ferns,  or  even  be- 
neath the  corner  of  a  great  stone.  "  Oh," 
said  he,  "I  wish  I  were  a  Tadpole  again, 
swimming  in  a  shady  pool.  It  is  such  a 
long,  hot  journey  to  the  marsh  that  I  can- 
not go.  Last  night  I  dreamed  that  I  was 
a  Tadpole,  splashing  in  the  water,  and  it 
was  hard  to  awaken  and  find  myself  only 
an  uncomfortable  old  Tree  Frog." 


130      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

Over  his  head  the  Katydids  were  singing, 
"  Lovely  weather !  Lovely  weather  ! "  and 
the  Tree  Frog,  who  was  a  good-natured 
old  fellow  after  all,  winked  his  eye  at  them 
and  said  :  "  Sing  away.  This  won't  last 
always,  and  then  it  will  be  my  turn  to  sing." 

Sure  enough,  the  very  next  day  a  tiny 
cloud  drifted  across  the  sky,  and  the  Tree 
Frog,  who  always  knew  when  the  weather 
was  about  to  change,  began  his  rain-song. 
"  Pukr-r-rup  !"  sang  he,  "  Pukr-r-rup  !  It 
will  rain  !  It  will  rain  !  R-r-r-rain  !" 

The  little  white  cloud  grew  bigger  and 
blacker,  and  another  came  following  after, 
then  another,  and  another,  and  another, 
until  the  sky  was  quite  covered  with  rush- 
ing black  clouds.  Then  came  a  long,  low 
rumble  of  thunder,  and  all  the  meadow  peo- 
ple hurried  to  find  shelter.  The  Moths  and 
Butterflies  hung  on  the  under  sides  of  great 
leaves.  The  Grasshoppers  and  their  cousins 
crawled  under  burdock  and  mullein  plants. 
The  Ants  scurried  around  to  find  their 


The  Day  of  the  Great  Storm.      1 3 1 

own  homes.  The  Bees  and  Wasps,  who 
had  been  gathering  honey  for  their  nests, 
flew  swiftly  back.  Everyone  was  hurry- 
ing to  be  ready  for  the  shower,  and  above 
all  the  rustle  and  stir  could  be  heard  the 
voice  of  the  old  Frog,  "  Pukr-r-rup  !  Pukr-r- 
rup  !  It  will  rain  !  It  will  rain  !  R-r-r-rain ! " 
The  wind  blew  harder  and  harder,  the 
branches  swayed  and  tossed,  the  leaves 
danced,  and  some  even  blew  off  of  their 
mother  trees ;  the  hundreds  of  little  clinging 
creatures  clung  more  and  more  tightly  to 
the  leaves  that  sheltered  them,  and  then  the 
rain  came,  and  such  a  rain  !  Great  drops 
hurrying  down  from  the  sky,  crowding  each 
other,  beating  down  the  grass,  flooding  the 
homes  of  the  Ants  and  Digger  Wasps  until 
they  were  half  choked  with  water,  knocking 
over  the  Grasshoppers  and  tumbling  them 
about  like  leaves.  The  lightning  flashed, 
and  the  thunder  pealed,  and  often  a  tree 
would  crash  down  in  the  forest  near  by 
when  the  wind  blew  a  great  blast. 


132      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

When  everybody  was  wet,  and  little 
rivulets  of  water  were  trickling  through 
the  grass  and  running  into  great  puddles 
in  the  hollows,  the  rain  stopped,  stopped 
suddenly.  One  by  one  the  meadow  peo- 
ple crawled  or  swam  into  sight. 

The  Digger  Wasp  was  floating  on  a 
leaf  in  a  big  puddle.  He  was  too  tired 
and  wet  to  fly,  and  the  whirling  of  the 
leaf  made  him  feel  sick  and  dizzy,  but  he 
stood  firmly  on  his  tiny  boat  and  tried  to 
look  as  though  he  enjoyed  it. 

The  Ants  were  rushing  around  to  put 
their  homes  in  shape,  the  Spiders  were 
busily  eating  their  old  webs,  which  had 
been  broken  and  torn  in  the  storm,  and 
some  were  already  beginning  new  ones. 
A  large  family  of  Bees,  whose  tree-home 
had  been  blown  down,  passed  over  the 
meadow  in  search  for  a  new  dwelling,  and 
everybody  seemed  busy  and  happy  in  the 
cool  air  that  followed  the  storm. 

The  Snake  went  gliding  through  the 


The  Day  of  the  Great  Storm.      133 

wet  grass,  as  hungry  as  ever,  the  Tree 
Frog  was  as  happy  as  when  he  was  a 
Tadpole,  and  only  the  Grasshoppers  and 
their  cousins,  the  Locusts  and  Katydids, 
were  cross.  "  Such  a  horrid  rain  !"  they 
grumbled,  "  it  spoiled  all  our  fun.  And 
after  such  lovely  hot  weather  too." 

"  Now  don't  be  silly,"  said  the  Tree 
Frog,  who  could  be  really  severe  when  he 
thought  best,  "the  Bees  and  the  Ants  are 
not  complaining,  and  they  had  a  good 
deal  harder  time  than  you.  Can't  you 
make  the  best  of  anything  ?  A  nice, 
hungry,  cross  lot  you  would  be  if  it 
did  n't  rain,  because  then  you  would  have 
no  good,  juicy  food.  It  's  better  for  you 
in  the  end  as  it  is,  but  even  if  it  were  not, 
you  might  make  the  best  of  it  as  I  did  of 
the  hot  weather.  When  you  have  lived 
as  long  as  I  have,  you  will  know  that 
neither  Grasshoppers  nor  Tree  Frogs  can 
have  their  way  all  the  time,  but  that  it 
always  comes  out  all  right  in  the  end 
without  their  fretting  about  it." 


THIS  is  the  story  of  a 
venturesome  young  Spider, 
who  left  his  home  in  the 
meadow  to  seek  his  fortune 
in  the  great  world. 

He  was  a  beautiful  Spi- 
der, and  belonged  to  one 
of  the  best  families  in  the 
country  around.  He  was 
a  worker,  too,  for,  as  he  had 
often  said,  there  was  n't  a 
lazy  leg  on  his  body,  and 
he  could  spin  the  biggest, 
strongest,  and  shiniest  web 
in  the  meadow.  All  the 
young  people  in  the  meadow  liked  him, 
and  he  was  invited  to  every  party,  or 
134 


The  Story  of  Lily- Pad  Island.     135 

dance,  or  picnic  that  they  planned.  If  he 
had  been  content  to  stay  at  home,  as  his 
brothers  and  sisters  were,  he  would  in  time 
have  become  as  important  and  well  known 
as  the  Tree  Frog,  or  the  fat,  old  Cricket, 
or  even  as  the  Garter  Snake. 

But  that  would  not  satisfy  him  at  all, 
and  one  morning  he  said  "Good-by"  to 
all  his  friends  and  relatives,  and  set  sail 
for  unknown  lands.  He  set  sail,  but  not 
on  water.  He  crawled  up  a  tree,  and  out 
to  the  end  of  one  of  its  branches.  There 
he  began  spinning  a  long  silken  rope,  and 
letting  the  wind  blow  it  away  from  the 
tree.  He  held  fast  to  one  end,  and  when 
the  wind  was  quite  strong,  he  let  go  of 
the  branch  and  sailed  off  through  the  air, 
carried  by  his  rope  balloon,  and  blown 
along  by  the  wind. 

The  meadow  people,  on  the  ground  be- 
low, watched  him  until  he  got  so  far  away 
that  he  looked  about  as  large  as  a  Fly,  and 
then  he  looked  no  bigger  than  an  Ant, 


136      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

and  then  no  bigger  than  a  clover  seed,  and 
then  no  bigger  than  the  tiniest  egg  that 
was  ever  laid,  and  then — well,  then  you 
could  see  nothing  but  sky,  and  the  Spider 
was  truly  gone.  The  other  young  Spiders 
all  wished  that  they  had  gone,  and  the  old 
Spiders  said,  "  They  might  much  better 
stay  at  home,  as  their  fathers  and  mothers 
had  done."  There  was  no  use  talking 
about  it  when  they  disagreed  so,  and  very 
little  more  was  said. 

Meanwhile,  the  young  traveller  was 
having  a  very  fine  time.  He  was  carried 
past  trees  and  over  fences,  down  toward 
the  river.  Under  him  were  all  the  bright 
flowers  of  the  meadow,  and  the  bushes 
which  used  to  tower  above  his  head.  After 
a  while,  he  saw  the  rushes  of  the  marsh 
below  him,  and  wondered  if  the  Frogs 
there  would  see  him  as  he  passed  over 
them. 

Next,  he  saw  a  beautiful,  shining  river, 
and  in  the  quiet  water  by  the  shore  were 


The  Story  of  Lily-Pad  Island.      137 

great  white  water-lilies  growing,  with  their 
green  leaves,  or  pads,  floating  beside  them. 
"Ah,"  thought  he,  "  I  shall  pass  over  the 
river,  and  land  on  the  farther  side,"  and 
he  began  to  think  of  eating  his  rope  bal- 
loon, so  that  he  might  sink  slowly  to  the 
ground,  when — the  wind  suddenly  stopped 
blowing,  and  he  began  falling  slowly  down, 
down,  down,  down. 

How  he  longed  for  a  branch  to  cling  to  ! 
How  he  shivered  at  the  thought  of  plung- 
ing into  the  cold  water !  How  he  wished 
that  he  had  always  stayed  at  home !  How 
he  thought  of  all  the  naughty  things  that 
he  had  ever  done,  and  was  sorry  that  he 
had  done  them  !  But  it  was  of  no  use,  for 
still  he  went  down,  down,  down.  He  gave 
up  all  hope  and  tried  to  be  brave,  and  at 
that  very  minute  he  felt  himself  alight  on 
a  great  green  lily-pad. 

This  was  indeed  an  adventure,  and  he 
was  very  joyful  for  a  little  while.  But  he 
got  hungry,  and  there  was  no  food  near. 


138      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

He  walked  all  over  the  leaf,  Lily-Pad 
Island  he  named  it,  and  ran  around  its 
edges  as  many  as  forty  times.  It  was  just 
a  flat,  green  island,  and  at  one  side  was  a 
perfect  white  lily,  which  had  grown,  so 
pure  and  beautiful,  out  of  the  darkness 
and  slime  of  the  river  bottom.  The  lily 
was  so  near  that  he  jumped  over  to  it. 
There  he  nestled  in  its  sweet,  yellow  cen- 
tre, and  went  to  sleep. 

When  he  fell  asleep  it  was  late  in  the 
afternoon,  and,  as  the  sun  sank  lower  and 
lower  in  the  west,  the  lily  began  to  close 
her  petals  and  get  ready  for  the  night. 
She  was  just  drawing  under  the  water 
when  the  Spider  awakened.  It  was  dark 
and  close,  and  he  felt  himself  shut  in  and 
going  down.  He  scrambled  and  pushed, 
and  got  out  just  in  time  to  give  a  great 
leap  and  alight  on  Lily  Pad-Island  once 
more.  And  then  he  was  in  a  sad  plight. 
He  was  hungry  and  cold,  and  night  was 
coming  on,  and,  what  was  worst  of  all,  in 


The  Story  of  Lily-Pad  Island.      139 

his  great  struggle  to  free  himself  from  the 
lily  he  had  pulled  off  two  of  his  legs,  so 
he  had  only  six  left. 

He  never  liked  to  think  of  that  night 
afterward,  it  was  so  dreadful.  In  the 
morning  he  saw  a  leaf  come  floating  down 
the  stream ;  he  watched  it ;  it  touched 
Lily-Pad  Island  for  just  an  instant  and  he 
jumped  on.  He  did  not  know  where  it 
would  take  him,  but  anything  was  better 
than  staying  where  he  was  and  starving. 
It  might  float  to  the  shore,  or  against  one 
of  the  rushes  that  grew  in  the  shallower 
parts  of  the  river.  If  it  did  that,  he  would 
jump  off  and  run  up  to  the  top  and  set  sail 
again,  but  the  island,  where  he  had  been, 
was  too  low  to  give  him  a  start. 

He  went  straight  down-stream  for  a 
while,  then  the  leaf  drifted  into  a  little 
eddy,  and  whirled  around  and  around, 
until  the  Spider  was  almost  too  dizzy  to 
stand  on  it.  After  that,  it  floated  slowly, 
very  slowly,  toward  the  shore,  and  at  last 


140      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

came  the  joyful  minute  when  the  Spider 
could  jump  to  some  of  the  plants  that 
grew  in  the  shallow  water,  and,  by  making 
rope  bridges  from  one  to  another,  get  on 
solid  ground. 

After  a  few  days'  rest  he  started  back 
to  the  meadow,  asking  his  way  of  every 
insect  that  he  met.  When  he  got  home 
they  did  not  know  him,  he  was  so  changed, 
but  thought  him  only  a  tramp  Spider,  and 
not  one  of  their  own  people.  His  mother 
was  the  first  one  to  find  out  who  he  was, 
and  when  her  friends  said,  "Just  what  I 
expected  !  He  might  have  known  better," 
she  hushed  them,  and  answered :  "  The 
poor  child  has  had  a  hard  time,  and  I 
won't  scold  him  for  going.  He  has  learned 
that  home  is  the  best  place,  and  that  home 
friends  are  the  dearest.  I  shall  keep  him 
quiet  while  his  new  legs  are  growing,  and 
then,  I  think,  he  will  spin  his  webs  near 
the  old  place." 

And  so  he  did,  and  is  now  one  of  the 


The  Story  of  LilyrPad  Island.      141 

steadiest  of  all  the  meadow  people.  When 
anybody  asks  him  his  age,  he  refuses  to 
tell,  "  For,"  he  says,  "  most  of  me  is  mid- 
dle-aged, but  these  two  new  legs  of  mine 
are  still  very  young." 


THE    GRASSHOPPER  WHO 
WOULDN'T  BE  SCARED. 

THERE  were  more  Ants  in  the  meadow 
than  there  were  of  any  other  kind  of  in- 
sects. In  their  family  there  were  not 
only  Ants,  but  great -aunts,  cousins, 
nephews,  and  nieces,  until  it  made  one 
sleepy  to  think  how  many  relatives 
each  Ant  had.  Yet  they  were  small 
people  and  never  noisy,  so  perhaps  the 
Grasshoppers  seemed  to  be  the  largest 
family  there. 

There  were  many  different  families  of 
Grasshoppers,  but  they  were  all  related. 
Some  had  short  horns,  or  feelers,  and  red 
legs ;  and  some  had  long  horns.  Some 
lived  in  the  lower  part  of  the  meadow 
where  it  was  damp,  and  some  in  the  upper 
142 


Grasshopper  Would'nt  be  Scared.     143 

part.  The  Katydids,  who  really  belong 
to  this  family,  you  know,  stayed  in  trees 
and  did  not  often  sing  in  the  daytime. 
The*n  there  were  the  great  Road  Grass- 
hoppers who  lived  only  in  places  where 
the  ground  was  bare  and  dusty,  and  whom 
you  could  hardly  see  unless  they  were 
flying.  When  they  lay  in  the  dust  their 
wide  wings  were  hidden  and  they  showed 
only  that  part  of  their  bodies  which  was 
dust-color.  Let  the  farmer  drive  along, 
however,  and  they  rose  into  the  air  with  a 
gentle,  whirring  sound  and  fluttered  to  a 
safe  place.  Then  one  could  see  them 
plainly,  for  their  large  under  wings  were 
black  with  yellow  edges. 

Perhaps  those  Grasshoppers  who  were 
best  known  in  the  meadow  were  the 
Clouded  Grasshoppers,  large  dirty-brown 
ones  with  dark  spots,  who  seemed  to  be 
everywhere  during  the  autumn.  The 
fathers  and  brothers  in  this  family  always 
crackled  their  wings  loudly  when  they 


144      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

flew  anywhere,  so  one  could  never  forget 
that  they  were  around. 

It  was  queer  that  they  were  always 
spoken  of  as  Grasshoppers.  Their  gYeat- 
great-great-grandparents  were  called 
Locusts,  and  that  was  the  family  name, 
but  the  Cicadas  liked  that  name  and 
wanted  it  for  themselves,  and  made  such 
a  fuss  about  it  that  people  began  to  call 
them  Seventeen-Year-Locusts  ;  and  then 
because  they  had  to  call  the  real  Locusts 
something  else,  they  called  them  Grass- 
hoppers. The  Grasshoppers  did  n't  mind 
this.  They  were  jolly  and  noisy,  and  as 
they  grew  older  were  sometimes  very 
pompous.  And  you  know  what  it  is  to 
be  pompous. 

When  the  farmer  was  drawing  the  last 
loads  of  hay  to  his  barn  and  putting  them 
away  in  the  great  mows  there,  three 
young  Clouded  Grasshopper  brothers 
were  frolicking  near  the  wagon.  They 
had  tried  to  see  who  could  run  the  fastest, 


Grasshopper  Would'nt  be  Scared.     145 

crackle  the  loudest,  spring  the  highest, 
flutter  the  farthest,  and  eat  the  most. 
There  seemed  to  be  nothing  more  to  do. 
They  could  n't  eat  another  mouthful,  the 
other  fellows  would  n't  play  with  them, 
they  would  n't  play  with  their  sisters,  and 
they  were  not  having  any  fun  at  all. 

They  were  sitting  on  a  hay-cock,  watch- 
ing the  wagon  as  it  came  nearer  and 
nearer.  The  farmer  was  on  top  and  one 
of  his  men  was  walking  beside  it.  When- 
ever they  came  to  a  hay-cock  the  farmer 
would  stop  the  Horses,  the  man  would 
run  a  long-handled,  shining  pitch-fork  into 
the  hay  on  the  ground  and  throw  it  up  to 
the  farmer.  Then  it  would  be  trampled 
down  on  to  the  load,  the  farmer's  wife 
would  rake  up  the  scattering  hay  which 
was  left  on  the  ground,  and  that  would  be 
thrown  up  also. 

The  biggest  Clouded  Grasshopper  said 
to  his  brothers,  "  You  dare  not  sit  still 
while  they  put  this  hay  on  the  load  ! " 


146      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

The  smallest  Clouded  Grasshopper  said, 
"  I  do  too  ! " 

The  second  brother  said,  "  Huh ! 
Guess  I  dare  do  anything  you  do  ! "  He 
said  it  in  a  rather  mean  way,  and  that  may 
have  been  because  he  had  eaten  too  much. 
Overeating  will  make  any  insect  cross. 

Now  every  one  of  them  was  afraid,  but 
each  waited  for  the  others  to  back  out. 
While  they  were  waiting,  the  wagon 
stopped  beside  them,  the  shining  fork  was 
run  into  the  hay,  and  they  were  shaken 
and  stood  on  their  heads  and  lifted 
through  the  air  on  to  the  wagon.  There 
they  found  themselves  all  tangled  up  with 
hay  in  the  middle  of  the  load.  It  was 
dark  and  they  could  hardly  breathe.  There 
were  a  few  stems  of  nettles  in  the  hay,  and 
they  had  to  crawl  away  from  them.  It 
was  no  fun  at  all,  and  they  didn't  talk 
very  much. 

When  the  wagon  reached  the  barn, 
they  were  pitched  into  the  mow  with  the 


Grasshopper  Would'nt  be  Scared.      147 

hay,  and  then  they  hopped  and  fluttered 
around  until  they  were  on  the  floor  over 
the  Horses'  stalls.  They  sat  together  on 
the  floor  and  wondered  how  they  could 
ever  get  back  to  the  meadow.  Because 
they  had  come  in  the  middle  of  the  load, 
they  did  not  know  the  way. 

"  Oh  ! "  said  they.  "  Who  are  those  four- 
legged  people  over  there  ?  " 

"  Kittens  !"  sang  a  Swallow  over  their 
heads.  "  Oh,  tittle-ittle-ittle-ee  ! " 

The  Clouded  Grasshoppers  had  never 
seen  Kittens.  It  is  true  that  the  old  Cat 
often  went  hunting  in  the  meadow,  but 
that  was  at  night,  when  Grasshoppers 
were  asleep. 

"  Meouw ! "  said  the  Yellow  Kitten. 
"  Look  at  those  queer  little  brown  people 
on  the  floor.  Let's  each  catch  one." 

So  the  Kittens  began  crawling  slowly 
over  the  floor,  keeping  their  bodies  and 
tails  low,  and  taking  very  short  steps. 
Not  one  of  them  took  his  eyes  off  the 


148      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

Clouded  Grasshopper  whom  he  meant  to 
catch.  Sometimes  they  stopped  and 
crouched  and  watched,  then  they  went 
on,  nearer,  nearer,  nearer,  still,  while  the 
Clouded  Grasshoppers  were  more  and 
more  scared  and  wished  they  had  never 
left  the  meadow  where  they  had  been  so 
safe  and  happy. 

At  last  the  Kittens  jumped,  coming  down 
with  their  sharp  little  claws  just  where  the 
Clouded  Grasshoppers — had  been.  The 
Clouded  Grasshoppers  had  jumped  too,  but 
they  could  not  stay  long  in  the  air,  and 
when  they  came  down  the  Kittens  jumped 
again.  So  it  went  until  the  poor  Clouded 
Grasshoppers  were  very,  very  tired  and 
could  not  jump  half  so  far  as  they  had  done 
at  first.  Sometimes  the  Kittens  even  tried 
to  catch  them  while  they  were  fluttering, 
and  each  time  they  came  a  little  nearer  than 
before.  They  were  so  tired  that  they  never 
thought  of  leaping  up  on  the  wall  of  the  barn 
where  the  Kittens  could  n't  reach  them. 


Grasshopper  Would'nt  be  Scared.     149 

At  last  the  smallest  Clouded  Grasshop- 
per called  to  his  brothers,  "  Let  us  chase 
the  Kittens." 

The  brothers  answered,  "  They  're  too 
big." 

The  smallest  Clouded  Grasshopper, 
who  had  always  been  the  brightest  one  in 
the  family,  called  back,  "  We  may  scare 
them  if  they  are  big." 

Then  all  the  Clouded  Grasshoppers 
leaped  toward  the  Kittens  and  crackled 
their  wings  and  looked  very,  very  fierce. 
And  the  Kittens  ran  away  as  fast  as  they 
could.  They  were  in  such  a  hurry  to  get 
away  that  the  Yellow  Kitten  tumbled 
over  the  White  Kitten  and  they  rolled  on 
the  floor  in  a  furry  little  heap.  The 
Clouded  Grasshoppers  leaped  again,  and 
the  Kittens  scrambled  away  to  their  nest 
in  the  hay,  and  stood  against  the  wall  and 
raised  their  backs  and  their  pointed  little 
tails,  and  opened  their  pink  mouths  and 
spat  at  them,  and  said,  "  Ha-ah-h-h  !" 


1 50      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

"  There  !  "  said  the  smallest  Clouded 
Grasshopper  to  them,  "we  won't  do  any- 
thing to  you  this  time,  because  you  are 
young  and  don't  know  very  much,  but 
don't  you  ever  bother  one  of  us  again. 
We  might  have  hopped  right  on  to  you, 
and  then  what  could  you  have  done  to 
help  yourselves  ?  " 

The  Clouded  Grasshoppers  started  off 
to  find  their  way  back  to  the  meadow, 
and  the  frightened  Kittens  looked  at  each 
other  and  whispered :  "  Just  supposing 
they  had  hopped  on  to  us !  What  could 
we  have  done  !  " 


EARLY  one  wet  morning,  a  long  Earth- 
worm came  out  of  his  burrow.  He  did 
not  really  leave  it,  but  he  dragged  most 
of  his  body  out,  and  let  just  the  tip-end 
of  it  stay  in  the  earth.  Not  having  any 
eyes,  he  could  not  see  the  heavy,  gray 
clouds  that  filled  the  sky,  nor  the  milk- 
weed stalks,  so  heavy  with  rain-drops  that 
they  drooped  their  pink  heads.  He  could 
not  see  these  things,  but  he  could  feel  the 
soft,  damp  grass,  and  the  cool,  clear  air, 
and  as  for  seeing,  why,  Earthworms  never 
do  have  eyes,  and  never  think  of  wanting 
them,  any  more  than  you  would  want  six 
legs,  or  feelers  on  your  head. 
151 


152       Among  the  Meadow  People. 

This  Earthworm  had  been  out  of  his 
burrow  only  a  little  while,  when  there  was 
a  flutter  and  a  rush,  and  Something  flew 
down  from  the  sky  and  bit  his  poor  body 
in  two.  Oh,  how  it  hurt !  Both  halves 
of  him  wriggled  and  twisted  with  pain, 
and  there  is  no  telling  what  might  have 
become  of  them  if  another  and  bigger 
Something  had  not  come  rushing  down 
to  drive  the  first  Something  away.  So 
there  the  poor  Earthworm  lay,  in  two 
aching,  wriggling  pieces,  and  although  it 
had  been  easy  enough  to  bite  him  in  two, 
nothing  in  the  world  could  ever  bite  him 
into  one. 

After  a  while  the  aching  stopped,  and 
he  had  time  to  think.  It  was  very  hard 
to  decide  what  he  ought  to  do.  You  can 
see  just  how  puzzling  it  must  have  been, 
for,  if  you  should  suddenly  find  yourself 
two  people  instead  of  one,  you  would  not 
know  which  one  was  which.  At  this  very 
minute,  who  should  come  along  but  the 


The  Earthworm  Half- Brothers.    153 

Cicada,  and  one  of  the  Earthworm  pieces 
asked  his  advice.  The  Cicada  thought 
that  he  was  the  very  person  to  advise  in 
such  a  case,  because  he  had  had  such  a 
puzzling  time  himself.  So  he  said  in  a 
very  knowing  way  :  "  Pooh  !  That  is  a 
simple  matter.  I  thought  I  was  two  Ci- 
cadas once,  but  I  was  n't.  The  thinking, 
moving  part  is  the  real  one,  whatever 
happens,  so  that  part  of  the  Worm  which 
thinks  and  moves  is  the  real  Worm." 

"  I  am  the  thinking  part,"  cried  each  of 
the  pieces. 

The  Cicada  rubbed  his  head  with  his 
front  legs,  he  was  so  surprised. 

"And  I  am  the  moving  part,"  cried 
each  of  the  pieces,  giving  a  little  wriggle 
to  prove  it. 

"  Well,  well,  well,  well !"  exclaimed  the 
Cicada,  "  I  believe  I  don't  know  how  to 
settle  this.  I  will  call  the  Garter  Snake," 
and  he  flew  off  to  get  him. 

A  very  queer  couple  they  made,  the 


154      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

Garter  Snake  and  the  Cicada,  as  they 
came  hurrying  back  from  the  Snake's 
home.  The  Garter  Snake  was  quite  ex- 
cited. "  Such  a  thing  has  not  happened 
in  our  meadow  for  a  long  time,"  he  said, 
"  and  it  is  a  good  thing  there  is  somebody 
here  to  explain  it  to  you,  or  you  would  be 
dreadfully  frightened.  My  family  is  re- 
lated to  the  Worms,  and  I  know.  Both 
of  you  pieces  are  Worms  now.  The 
bitten  ends  will  soon  be  well,  and  you  can 
keep  house  side  by  side,  if  you  don't  want 
to  live  together." 

"  Well,"  said  the  Earthworms,  "  if  we 
are  no  longer  the  same  Worm,  but  two 
Worms,  are  we  related  to  each  other  ? 
Are  we  brothers,  or  what  ?  " 

"Why,"  answered  the  Garter  Snake, 
with  a  funny  little  smile,  "  I  think  you 
might  call  yourselves  half-brothers."  And 
to  this  day  they  are  known  as  "  the  Earth- 
worm half-brothers."  They  are  very  fond 
of  each  other  and  are  always  seen  together. 


The  Earthworm  Half-Brothers.    155 

A  jolly  young  Grasshopper,  who  is  a 
great  eater  and  thinks  rather  too  much 
about  food,  said  he  would  n't  mind  being 
bitten  into  two  Grasshoppers,  if  it  would 
give  him  two  stomachs  and  let  him  eat 
twice  as  much. 

The  Cicada  told  the  Garter  Snake  this 
one  day,  and  the  Garter  Snake  said  : 
"  Tell  him  not  to  try  it.  The  Earth- 
worms are  the  only  meadow  people  who 
can  live  after  being  bitten  in  two  that 
way.  The  rest  of  us  have  to  be  one,  or 
nothing.  And  as  for  having  two  stomachs, 
he  is  just  as  well  off  with  one,  for  if  he  had 
two,  he  would  get  twice  as  hungry." 


TOP 
ING 

IK 


OF  all  the  people  who  lived 
and  worked  in  the  meadow  by  the 
river,  there  was  not  one  who  gave 
so  much  thought  to  other  people's 
business  as  a  certain  Blue-bottle 
Fly.  Why  this  should  be  so,  no- 
body could  say ;  perhaps  it  was 
because  he  had  nothing  to  do  but 
eat  and  sleep,  for  that  is  often  the 
way  with  those  who  do  little  work. 
Truly  his  cares  were  light.  To 
be  sure,  he  ate  much,  but  then, 
with  nearly  sixty  teeth  for  nib- 
bling and  awonderful  long  tongue 
for  sucking,  he  could  eat  a  great 

deal  in  a  very  short  time.     And 

156 


A  Gossiping  Fly.  157 

as  for  sleeping — well,  sleeping  was  as  easy 
for  him  as  for  anyone  else. 

However  it  was,  he  saw  nearly  every- 
thing that  happened,  and  thought  it  over 
in  his  queer  little  three-cornered  head 
until  he  was  sure  that  he  ought  to  go  to 
talk  about  it  with  somebody  else.  It  was 
no  wonder  that  he  saw  so  much,  for  he 
had  a  great  bunch  of  eyes  on  each  side  of 
his  head,  and  three  bright,  shining  ones  on 
the  very  top  of  it.  That  let  him  see  almost 
everything  at  once,  and  beside  this  his 
neck  was  so  exceedingly  slender  that  he 
could  turn  his  head  very  far  around. 

This  particular  Fly,  like  all  other  Flies, 
was  very  fond  of  the  sunshine  and  kept 
closely  at  home  in  dark  or  wet  weather. 
He  had  no  house,  but  stayed  in  a  certain 
elder  bush  on  cloudy  days  and  called  that 
his  home.  He  had  spent  all  of  one  stormy 
day  there,  hanging  on  the  under  side  of  a 
leaf,  with  nothing  to  do  but  think.  Of 
course,  his  head  was  down  and  his  feet 


158      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

were  up,  but  Blue-bottle  Flies  think  in 
that  position  as  well  as  in  any  other,  and 
the  two  sticky  pads  on  each  side  of  his 
six  feet  held  him  there  very  comfortably. 

He  thought  so  much  that  day,  that 
when  the  next  morning  dawned  sunshiny 
and  clear,  he  had  any  number  of  things  to 
tell  people,  and  he  started  out  at  once. 

First  he  went  to  the  Tree  Frog.  "  What 
do  you  suppose,"  said  he,  "  that  the  Garter 
Snake  is  saying  about  you  ?  It  is  very 
absurd,  yet  I  feel  that  you  ought  to  know. 
He  says  that  your  tongue  is  fastened  at 
the  wrong  end,  and  that  the  tip  of  it 
points  down  your  throat.  Of  course,  I 
knew  it  could  n't  be  true,  still  I  thought  I 
would  tell  you  what  he  said,  and  then  you 
could  see  him  and  put  a  stop  to  it." 

For  an  answer  to  this  the  Tree  Frog 
ran  out  his  tongue,  and,  sure  enough,  it 
was  fastened  at  the  front  end.  "  The 
Snake  is  quite  right,"  he  said  pleasantly, 
"  and  my  tongue  suits  me  perfectly.  It  is 


A  Gossiping  Fly.  159 

just  what  I  need  for  the  kind  of  food  I 
eat,  and  the  best  of  all  is  that  it  never 
makes  mischief  between  friends." 

After  that,  the  Fly  could  say  nothing 
more  there,  so  he  flew  away  in  his  noisiest 
manner  to  find  the  Grasshopper  who  lost 
the  race.  "  It  was  a  shame,"  said  the  Fly 
to  him,  "  that  the  judges  did  not  give  the 
race  to  you.  The  idea  of  that  little  green 
Measuring  Worm  coming  in  here,  almost 
a  stranger,  and  making  so  much  trouble ! 
I  would  have  him  driven  out  of  the 
meadow,  if  I  were  you." 

"  Oh,  that  is  all  right,"  answered  the 
Grasshopper,  who  was  really  a  good  fel- 
low at  heart ;  "  I  was  very  foolish  about 
that  race  for  a  time,  but  the  Measuring 
Worm  and  I  are  firm  friends  now.  Are 
we  not  ?  "  And  he  turned  to  a  leaf  just 
back  of  him,  and  there,  peeping  around  the 
edge,  was  the  Measuring  Worm  himself. 

The  Blue-bottle  Fly  left  in  a  hurry,  for 
where  people  were  so  good-natured  he 


160      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

could  do  nothing  at  all.  He  went  this 
time  to  the  Crickets,  whom  he  found  all 
together  by  the  fat,  old  Cricket's  hole. 

"  I  came,"  he  said,  "  to  find  out  if  it 
were  true,  as  the  meadow  people  say,  that 
you  were  all  dreadfully  frightened  when 
the  Cow  came  ?  " 

The  Crickets  answered  never  a  word, 
but  they  looked  at  each  other  and  began 
asking  him  questions. 

"Is  it  true,"  said  one,  "that  you  do 
nothing  but  eat  and  sleep  ?  " 

"  Is  it  true,"  said  another,  "  that  your 
eyes  are  used  most  of  the  time  for  seeing 
other  people's  faults  ?  " 

"And  is  it  true,"  said  another,  "that 
with  all  the  fuss  you  make,  you  do  little 
but  mischief?" 

The  Blue-bottle  Fly  answered  nothing, 
but  started  at  once  for  his  home  in  the  elder 
bush,  and  they  say  that  his  three-cornered 
head  was  filled  with  very  different  thoughts 
from  any  that  had  been  there  before. 


THE    FROG-HOPPERS    GO    OUT 
INTO  THE  WORLD. 

ALONG  the  upper  edge  of  the  meadow 
and  in  the  corners  of  the  rail  fence  there 
grew  golden-rod.  During  the  spring  and 
early  summer  you  could  hardly  tell  that 
it  was  there,  unless  you  walked  close  to  it 
and  saw  the  slender  and  graceful  stalks 
pushing  upward  through  the  tall  grass 
and  pointing  in  many  different  ways  with 
their  dainty  leaves.  The  Horses  and 
Cows  knew  it,  and  although  they  might 
eat  all  around  it  they  never  pulled  at  it 
with  their  lips  or  ate  it.  In  the  autumn, 
each  stalk  was  crowned  with  sprays  of 
tiny  bright  yellow  blossoms,  which  nodded 
in  the  wind  and  scattered  their  golden 
pollen  all  around.  Then  it  sometimes 

161 


1 62      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

happened  that  people  who  were  driving 
past  would  stop,  climb  over  the  fence, 
and  pluck  some  of  it  to  carry  away. 
Even  then  there  was  so  much  left  that 
one  could  hardly  miss  the  stalks  that  were 
gone. 

It  may  have  been  because  the  golden- 
rod  was  such  a  safe  home  that  most  of 
the  Frog- Hoppers  laid  their  eggs  there. 
Some  laid  eggs  in  other  plants  and  bushes, 
but  most  of  them  chose  the  golden-rod. 
After  they  had  laid  their  eggs  they  wan- 
dered around  on  the  grass,  the  bushes, 
and  the  few  trees  which  grew  in  the 
meadow,  hopping  from  one  place  to 
another  and  eating  a  little  here  and  a  little 
there. 

Nobody  knows  why  they  should  have 
been  called  Frog-Hoppers,  unless  it  was 
because  when  you  look  them  in  the  face 
they  seem  a  very  little  like  tiny  Frogs. 
To  be  sure,  they  have  six  legs,  and  teeth 
on  the  front  pair,  as  no  real  Frog  ever 


The  Frog-Hoppers  Go  out        163 

thought  of  having.  Perhaps  it  was  only 
a  nickname  because  their  own  name  was 
so  long  and  hard  to  speak. 

The  golden-rod  was  beginning  to  show 
small  yellow-green  buds  on  the  tips  of  its 
stalks,  and  the  little  Frog- Hoppers  were 
now  old  enough  to  talk  and  wonder  about 
the  great  world.  On  one  stalk  four 
Frog-Hopper  brothers  and  sisters  lived 
close  together.  That  was  much  pleasanter 
than  having  to  grow  up  all  alone,  as  most 
young  Frog- Hoppers  do,  never  seeing 
their  fathers  and  mothers  or  knowing 
whether  they  ever  would. 

These  four  little  Frog- Hoppers  did  not 
know  how  lucky  they  were,  and  that,  you 
know,  happens  very  often  when  people 
have  not  seen  others  lonely  or  unhappy. 
They  supposed  that  every  Frog-Hopper 
family  had  two  brothers  and  two  sisters 
living  together  on  a  golden-rod  stalk. 
They  fed  on  the  juice  or  sap  of  the 
golden-rod,  pumping  it  out  of  the  stalk 


164      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

with  their  stout  little  beaks  and  eating  or 
drinking  it.  After  they  had  eaten  it,  they 
made  white  foam  out  of  it,  and  this  foam 
was  all  around  them  on  the  stalk.  Any 
one  passing  by  could  tell  at  once  by  the 
foam  just  where  the  Frog-Hoppers  lived. 

One  morning  the  oldest  Frog-Hopper 
brother  thought  that  the  sap  pumped  very 
hard.  It  may  be  that  it  did  pump  hard, 
and  it  may  be  that  he  was  tired  or  lazy. 
Anyway,  he  began  to  grumble  and  find 
fault.  "  This  is  the  worst  stalk  of  golden- 
rod  I  ever  saw  in  my  life,"  he  said.  "  It 
does  n't  pay  to  try  to  pump  any  more  sap, 
and  I  just  won't  try,  so  there  !  " 

He  was  quite  right  in  saying  that  it  was 
the  worst  stalk  he  had  ever  seen,  because 
he  had  never  seen  any  other,  but  he  was 
much  mistaken  in  saying  that  it  didn't 
pay  to  pump  sap,  and  as  for  saying  that 
"  it  did  n't  pay,  so  there ! "  we  all  know 
that  when  insects  begin  to  talk  in  that 
way  the  best  thing  to  do  is  to  leave  them 


The  Frog-Hoppers  Go  out.        165 

quite  alone  until  they  are  better-natured. 

The  other  Frog-Hopper  children  could 
n't  leave  him  alone,  because  they  had  n't 
changed  their  skins  for  the  last  time. 
They  had  to  stay  in  their  foam  until  that 
was  done.  After  the  big  brother  spoke  in 
this  way,  they  all  began  to  wonder  if  the 
sap  did  n't  pump  hard.  Before  long  the 
big  sister  wiggled  impatiently  and  said, 
"  My  beak  is  dreadfully  tired." 

Then  they  all  stopped  eating  and  be- 
gan to  talk.  They  called  their  home 
stuffy,  and  said  there  was  n't  room  to  turn 
around  in  it  without  hitting  the  foam. 
They  did  n't  say  why  they  should  mind 
hitting  the  foam.  It  was  soft  and  clean, 
and  always  opened  up  a  way  when  they 
pushed  against  it. 

"  I  tell  you  what ! "  said  the  big  brother, 
"  after  I  Ve  changed  my  skin  once  more 
and  gone  out  into  the  great  world,  you 
won't  catch  me  hanging  around  this  old 
golden-rod." 


1 66      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

"  Nor  me  !  "  "  Nor  me  !  "  "  Nor  me  ! " 
said  the  other  young  Frog-Hoppers. 

"  I  wonder  what  the  world  is  like,"  said 
the  little  sister.  "  Is  it  just  bigger  foam 
and  bigger  golden-rod  and  more  Frog- 
Hoppers?" 

"  Huh  !  "  exclaimed  her  big  brother. 
"  What  lots  you  know  !  If  I  did  n't  know 
any  more  than  that  about  it,  I  'd  keep  still 
and  not  tell  anybody."  That  made  her 
feel  badly,  and  she  did  n't  speak  again  for 
a  long  time. 

Then  the  little  brother  spoke.  "I 
did  n't  know  you  had  ever  been  out  into 
the  world,"  he  said. 

"  No,"  said  the  big  brother,  "  I  suppose 
you  did  n't.  There  are  lots  of  things  you 
don't  know."  That  made  him  feel  badly, 
and  he  went  off  into  the  farthest  corner 
of  the  foam  and  stuck  his  head  in  between 
a  golden-rod  leaf  and  the  stalk.  You  see 
the  big  brother  was  very  cross.  Indeed, 
he  was  exceedingly  cross. 


The  Frog- Hoppers  Go  out.       167 

For  a  long  time  nobody  spoke,  and 
then  the  big  sister  said,  "  I  wish  you 
would  tell  us  what  the  world  is  like." 

The  big  brother  knew  no  more  about 
the  world  than  the  other  children,  but 
after  he  had  been  cross  and  put  on  airs 
he  did  n't  like  to  tell  the  truth.  He  might 
have  known  that  he  would  be  found  out, 
yet  he  held  up  his  head  and  answered  :  "  I 
don't  suppose  that  I  can  tell  you  so  that 
you  will  understand,  because  you  have 
never  seen  it.  There  are  lots  of  things 
there — whole  lots  of  them — and  it  is  very 
big.  Some  of  the  things  are  like  golden- 
rod  and  some  of  them  are  not.  Some  of 
them  are  not  even  like  foam.  And  there 
are  a  great  many  people  there.  They  all 
have  six  legs,  but  they  are  not  so  clever 
as  we  are.  We  shall  have  to  tell  them 
things." 

This  was  very  interesting  and  made  the 
little  sister  forget  to  pout  and  the  little 
brother  come  out  of  his  foam-corner.  He 


1 68      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

even  looked  as  though  he  might  ask  a 
few  questions,  so  the  big  brother  added, 
"Now  don't  talk  to  me,  for  I  must  think 
about  something." 

It  was  not  long  after  this  that  the 
young  Frog-Hoppers  changed  their  skins 
for  the  last  time.  The  outside  part  of 
the  foam  hardened  and  made  a  little  roof 
over  them  while  they  did  this.  Then  they 
were  ready  to  go  out  into  the  meadow. 
The  big  brother  felt  rather  uncomfortable, 
and  it  was  not  his  new  skin  which  made 
him  so.  It  was  remembering  what  he 
had  said  about  the  world  outside. 

When  they  had  left  their  foam  and 
their  golden-rod,  they  had  much  to  see 
and  ask  about.  Every  little  while  one  of 
the  smaller  Frog-Hoppers  would  exclaim, 
"  Why,  you  never  told  us  about  this ! " 
or,  "  Why  did  n't  you  tell  us  about 
that  ?  " 

Then  the  big  brother  would  answer : 
"  Yes,  I  did.  That  is  one  of  the  things 


The  Frog-Hoppers  Go  out.       169 

which  I  said  were  not  like  either  golden- 
rod  or  foam." 

For  a  while  they  met  only  Crickets, 
Ants,  Grasshoppers,  and  other  six-legged 
people,  and  although  they  looked  at  each 
other  they  did  not  have  much  to  say.  At 
last  they  hopped  near  to  the  Tree  Frog, 
who  was  sitting  by  the  mossy  trunk  of  a 
beech  tree  and  looked  so  much  like  the 
bark  that  they  did  not  notice  him  at  first. 
The  big  brother  was  very  near  the  Tree 
Frog's  head. 

"  Oh,  see  ! "  cried  the  others.  "  There 
is  somebody  with  only  four  legs,  and  he 
does  n't  look  as  though  he  ever  had  any 
more.  Why,  Brother,  what  does  this 
mean  ?  You  said  everybody  had  six." 

At  this  moment  the  Tree  Frog  opened 
his  eyes  a  little  and  his  mouth  a  great 
deal,  and  shot  out  his  quick  tongue. 
When  he  shut  his  mouth  again,  the  big 
brother  of  the  Frog-Hoppers  was  nowhere 
to  be  seen.  They  never  had  a  chance  to 


i  70      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

ask  him  that  question  again.  If  they  had 
but  known  it,  the  Tree  Frog  at  that 
minute  had  ten  legs,  for  six  and  four  are 
ten.  But  then,  they  could  n't  know  it, 
for  six  were  on  the  inside. 


MO5QUITOj 

TRIDTO 


IN  this  meadow,  as  in 
every  other  meadow  since 
the  world  began,  there  were 
some  people  who  were  al- 
ways tired  of  the  way  things 
were,  and  thought  that,  if 
the  world  were  only  differ- 
ent, they  would  be  perfect- 
ly happy.  One  of  these 
discontented  ones  was  a 
certain  Mosquito,  a  fellow 
with  a  whining  voice  and 
disagreeable  manners.  He 
had  very  little  patience 
with  people  who  were  not 
like  him,  and  thought  that 


172      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

the  world  would  be  a  much  pleasanter 
place  if  all  the  insects  had  been  made 
Mosquitoes. 

"  What  is  the  use  of  Spiders,  and 
Dragon-flies,  and  Beetles,  and  Butter- 
flies?" he  would  say,  fretfully;  "a  Mos- 
quito is  worth  more  than  any  of  them." 

You  can  just  see  how  unreasonable  he 
was.  Of  course,  Mosquitoes  and  Flies  do 
help  keep  the  air  pure  and  sweet,  but  that 
is  no  reason  why  they  should  set  them- 
selves up  above  the  other  insects.  Do 
not  the  Bees  carry  pollen  from  one  flower 
to  another,  and  so  help  the  plants  raise 
their  Seed  Babies  ?  And  who  would  not 
miss  the  bright,  happy  Butterflies,  with 
their  work  of  making  the  world  beautiful  ? 

But  this  Mosquito  never  thought  of 
those  things,  and  he  said  to  himself: 
"  Well,  if  they  cannot  all  be  Mosquitoes, 
they  can  at  least  try  to  live  like  them,  and 
I  think  I  will  call  them  together  and  talk 
it  over."  So  he  sent  word  all  around,  and 


The  Mosquito  Tries  to  Teach.      173 

his  friends  and  neighbors  gathered  to  hear 
what  he  had  to  say. 

"In  the  first  place,"  he  remarked,  "it  is 
unfortunate  that  you  are  not  Mosquitoes, 
but,  since  you  are  not,  one  must  make  the 
best  of  it.  There  are  some  things,  how- 
ever, which  you  might  learn  from  us 
fortunate  creatures  who  are.  For  in- 
stance, notice  the  excellent  habit  of  the 
Mosquitoes  in  the  matter  of  laying  eggs. 
Three  or  four  hundred  of  the  eggs  are 
fastened  together  and  left  floating  on  a 
pond  in  such  a  way  that,  when  the  babies 
break  their  shells,  they  go  head  first  into 
the  water.  Then  they " 

"  Do  you  think  I  would  do  that  if  I 
could?"  interrupted  a  motherly  old  Grass- 
hopper. "  Fix  it  so  my  children  would 
drown  the  minute  they  came  out  of  the  egg  ? 
No,  indeed ! "  and  she  hurried  angrily  away, 
followed  by  several  other  loving  mothers. 

"  But  they  don't  drown,"  exclaimed  the 
Mosquito,  in  surprise. 


1 74      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

"  They  don't  if  they  're  Mosquitoes," 
replied  the  Ant,  "  but  I  am  thankful  to  say 
my  children  are  land  babies  and  not  water 
babies." 

"  Well,  I  won't  say  anything  more  about 
that,  but  I  must  speak  of  your  voices, 
which  are  certainly  too  heavy  and  loud  to 
be  pleasant.  I  should  think  you  might 
speak  and  sing  more  softly,  even  if  you 
have  no  pockets  under  your  wings  like 
mine.  I  flutter  my  wings,  and  the  air 
strikes  these  pockets  and  makes  my  sweet 
voice." 

"Humph!"  exclaimed  a  Bee,  "it  is  a 
very  poor  place  for  pockets,  and  a  very 
poor  use  to  make  of  them.  Every  Bee 
knows  that  pockets  are  handiest  on  the 
hind  legs,  and  should  be  used  for  carrying 
pollen  to  the  babies  at  home." 

"  My  pocket  is  behind,"  said  a  Spider, 
"  and  my  web  silk  is  kept  there.  I  could  n't 
live  without  a  pocket." 

Some  of  the  meadow  people  were  get- 


The  Mosquito  Tries  to  Teach.     175 

ting  angry,  so  the  Garter  Snake,  who 
would  always  rather  laugh  than  quarrel, 
glided  forward  and  said :  "  My  friends 
and  neighbors  ;  our  speaker  here  has  been 
so  kind  as  to  tell  us  how  the  Mosquitoes 
do  a  great  many  things,  and  to  try  to 
teach  us  their  way.  It  seems  to  me  that 
we  might  repay  some  of  his  kindness  by 
showing  him  our  ways,  and  seeing  that 
he  learns  by  practice.  I  would  ask  the 
Spiders  to  take  him  with  them  and  show 
him  how  to  spin  a  web.  Then  the  Bees 
could  teach  him  how  to  build  comb,  and 
the  Tree  Frog  how  to  croak,  and  the 
Earthworms  how  to  burrow,  and  the 
Caterpillars  how  to  spin  a  cocoon.  Each 
of  us  will  do  something  for  him.  Perhaps 
the  Measuring  Worm  will  teach  him  to 
walk  as  the  Worms  of  his  family  do.  I 
understand  he  does  that  very  well."  Here 
everybody  laughed,  remembering  the  joke 
played  on  the  Caterpillars,  and  the  Snake 
stopped  speaking. 


1 76      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

The  Mosquito  did  not  dare  refuse  to 
be  taught,  and  so  he  was  taken  from  one 
place  to  another,  and  told  exactly  how  to 
do  everything  that  he  could  not  possibly 
do,  until  he  felt  so  very  meek  and  humble 
that  he  was  willing  the  meadow  people 
should  be  busy  and  happy  in  their  own 
way. 


BY  the  edge  of  the  marsh 
lived  a  young  Frog,  who 
thought  a  great  deal  about 
herself  and  much  less  about 
other  people.  Not  that  it 
was  wrong  to  think  so  much 
of  herself,  but  it  certainly  was 
unfortunate  that  she  should 
have  so  little  time  left  in 
which  to  think  of  others  and 
of  the  beautiful  world. 

Early  in  the  morning  this 
Frog  would  awaken  and  lean 
far  over  the  edge  of  a  pool  to  see  how 

177 


1 78      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

she  looked  after  her  night's  rest.  Then 
she  would  give  a  spring,  and  come  down 
with  a  splash  in  the  cool  water  for  her 
morning  bath.  For  a  while  she  would 
swim  as  fast  as  her  dainty  webbed  feet 
would  push  her,  then  she  would  rest,  sit- 
ting in  the  soft  mud  with  just  her  head 
above  the  water. 

When  her  bath  was  taken,  she  had  her 
breakfast,  and  that  was  the  way  in  which 
she  began  her  day.  She  did  nothing  but 
bathe  and  eat  and  rest,  from  sunrise  to 
sunset.  She  had  a  fine,  strong  body,  and 
had  never  an  ache  or  a  pain,  but  one  day 
she  got  to  thinking,  "What  if  sometime 
I  should  be  sick?"  And  then,  because 
she  thought  about  nothing  but  her  own 
self,  she  was  soon  saying,  "  I  am  afraid  I 
shall  be  sick."  In  a  little  while  longer  it 
was,  "  I  certainly  am  sick." 

She  crawled  under  a  big  toadstool,  and 
sat  there  looking  very  glum  indeed,  until 
a  Cicada  came  along.  She  told  the  Cicada 


The  Frog  who  Thought  herself  Sick.     1 79 

how  sick  she  felt,  and  he  told  his  cousins, 
the  Locusts,  and  they  told  their  cousins, 
the  Grasshoppers,  and  they  told  their 
cousins,  the  Katydids,  and  then  everybody 
told  somebody  else,  and  started  for  the 
toadstool  where  the  young  Frog  sat.  The 
more  she  had  thought  of  it,  the  worse  she 
felt,  until,  by  the  time  the  meadow  people 
came  crowding  around,  she  was  feeling 
very  sick  indeed. 

"  Where  do  you  feel  badly  ?"  they  cried, 
and,  "How  long  have  you  been  sick?" 
and  one  Cricket  stared  with  big  eyes,  and 
said,  "  How  dr-r-readfully  she  looks !"  The 
young  Frog  felt  weaker  and  weaker,  and 
answered  in  a  faint  little  voice  that  she 
had  felt  perfectly  well  until  after  break- 
fast, but  that  now  she  was  quite  sure  her 
skin  was  getting  dry,  and  "Oh  dear!"  and 
"Oh  dear!" 

Now  everybody  knows  that  Frogs 
breathe  through  their  skins  as  well  as 
through  their  noses,  and  for  a  Frog's  skin 


i8o      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

to  get  dry  is  very  serious,  for  then  he  can- 
not breathe  through  it ;  so,  as  soon  as  she 
said  that,  everybody  was  frightened  and 
wanted  to  do  something  for  her  at  once. 
Some  of  the  timid  ones  began  to  weep, 
and  the  others  bustled  around,  getting  in 
each  other's  way  and  all  trying  to  do  some- 
thing different.  One  wanted  to  wrap  her 
in  mullein  leaves,  another  wanted  her  to 
nibble  a  bit  of  the  peppermint  which  grew 
near,  a  third  thought  she  should  be  kept 
moving,  and  that  was  the  way  it  went 

Just  when  everybody  was  at  his  wits' 
end,  the  old  Tree  Frog  came  along. 
"  Pukr-r-rup !  What  is  the  matter  with 
you  ?  "  he  said. 

"  Oh!"  gasped  the  young  Frog,  weakly, 
"  I  am  sure  my  skin  is  getting  dry,  and  I 
feel  as  though  I  had  something  in  my 
head." 

"Umph!"  grunted  the  Tree  Frog  to 
himself,  "  I  guess  there  is  n't  enough  in 
her  head  to  ever  make  her  sick ;  and,  as 


The  Frog  who  Thought  herself  Sick.     181 

for  her  skin,  it  is  n't  dry  yet,  and  nobody 
knows  that  it  ever  will  be." 

But  as  he  was  a  wise  old  fellow  and  had 
learned  much  about  life,  he  knew  he  must 
not  say  such  things  aloud.  What  he  did 
say  was,  "  I  heard  there  was  to  be  a  great 
race  in  the  pool  this  morning." 

The  young  Frog  lifted  her  head  quite 
quickly,  saying:  "You  did?  Who  are 
the  racers  ?  " 

"Why,  all  the  young  Frogs  who  live 
around  here.  It  is  too  bad  that  you  can- 
not go." 

"  I  don't  believe  it  would  hurt  me  any," 
she  said. 

"  You  might  take  cold,"  the  Tree  Frog 
said ;  "besides,  the  exercise  would  tire  you." 

"  Oh,  but  I  am  feeling  much  better," 
the  young  Frog  said,  "  and  I  am  certain 
it  will  do  me  good." 

"  You  ought  not  to  go,"  insisted  all  the 
older  meadow  people.  "  You  really  ought 
not." 


1 82       Among  the  Meadow  People. 

"  I  don't  care,"  she  answered,  "  I  am 
going  anyway,  and  I  am  just  as  well  as 
anybody." 

And  she  did  go,  and  it  did  seem  that 
she  was  as  strong  as  ever.  The  people 
all  wondered  at  it,  but  the  Tree  Frog 
winked  his  eyes  at  them  and  said,  "  I 
knew  that  it  would  cure  her."  And  then 
he,  and  the  Garter  Snake,  and  the  fat,  old 
Cricket  laughed  together,  and  all  the 
younger  meadow  people  wondered  at  what 
they  were  laughing. 


KATVDID5' 

QUARREL 


THE  warm  summer  days 
were  past,  and  the  Katy- 
dids came  again  to  the 
meadow.  Everybody  was 
glad  to  see  them,  and  the 
Grasshoppers,  who  are 
cousins  of  the  Katydids, 
gave  a  party  in  their  honor. 

Such  a  time  as  the 
meadow  people  had  getting 
ready  for  that  party !  They 
did  not  have  to  change 
their  dresses,  but  they 
scraped  and  cleaned  them- 
selves, and  all  the  young 
Grasshoppers  went  off  by 
183 


1 84      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

the  woods  to  practise  jumping  and  get 
their  knees  well  limbered,  because  there 
might  be  games  and  dancing  at  the  party, 
and  then  how  dreadful  it  would  be  if  any 
young  Grasshopper  should  find  that  two 
or  three  of  his  legs  would  n't  bend  easily ! 

The  Grasshoppers  did  not  know  at  just 
what  time  they  ought  to  have  the  party. 
Some  of  the  meadow  people  whom  they 
wanted  to  invite  were  used  to  sleeping  all 
day,  and  some  were  used  to  sleeping  all 
night,  so  it  really  was  hard  to  find  an  hour 
at  which  all  would  be  wide-awake  and 
ready  for  fun.  At  last  the  Tree  Frog 
said:  "Pukr-r-rup!  Pukr-r-rup  !  Have  it 
at  sunset ! "  And  at  sunset  it  was. 

Everyone  came  on  time,  and  they 
hopped  and  chattered  and  danced  and 
ate  a  party  supper  of  tender  green  leaves. 
Some  of  the  little  Grasshoppers  grew 
sleepy  and  crawled  among  the  plantains 
for  a  nap.  Just  then  a  big  Katydid  said 
he  would  sing  a  song — which  was  a  very 


The  Katydids'  Quarrel.  185 

kind  thing  for  him  to  do,  because  he  really 
did  it  to  make  the  others  happy,  and  not 
to  show  what  a  fine  musician  he  was.  All 
the  guests  said,  "  How  charming ! "  or, 
"  We  should  be  delighted  !"  and  he  seated 
himself  on  a  low  swinging  branch.  You 
know  Katydids  sing  with  the  covers  of 
their  wings,  and  so  when  he  alighted  on 
the  branch  he  smoothed  down  his  pale 
green  suit  and  rubbed  his  wing-cases  a 
little  to  make  sure  that  they  were  in  tune. 
Then  he  began  loud  and  clear,  "  Katy 
did  !  Katy  did ! !  Katy  did  ! ! ! " 

Of  course  he  did  n't  mean  any  real 
Katy,  but  was  just  singing  his  song. 
However,  there  was  another  Katydid 
there  who  had  a  habit  of  contradicting, 
and  he  had  eaten  too  much  supper,  and 
that  made  him  feel  crosser  than  ever ;  so 
when  the  singer  said  "  Katy  did ! "  this 
cross  fellow  jumped  up  and  said,  "  Katy 
did  n't !  Katy  did  n't ! !  Katy  did  n't ! ! ! " 
and  they  kept  at  it,  one  saying  that  she 


1 86      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

did  and  the  other  that  she  did  n't,  until 
everybody  was  ashamed  and  uncomfort- 
able, and  some  of  the  little  Grasshoppers 
awakened  and  wanted  to  know  what  was 
the  matter. 

Both  of  the  singers  got  more  and  more 
vexed  until  at  last  neither  one  knew  just 
what  he  was  saying — and  that,  you  know, 
is  what  almost  always  happens  when  peo- 
ple grow  angry.  They  just  kept  saying 
something  as  loud  and  fast  as  possible 
and  thought  all  the  while  that  they  were 
very  bright — which  was  all  they  knew 
about  it. 

Suddenly  somebody  noticed  that  the 
one  who  began  to  say  "  Katy  did ! "  was 
screaming  "  Katy  did  n't ! "  and  the  one 
who  had  said  "  Katy  did  n't !"  was  roaring 
"  Katy  did ! "  Then  they  all  laughed,  and 
the  two  on  the  branch  looked  at  each 
other  in  a  very  shamefaced  way. 

The  Tree  Frog  always  knew  the  right 
thing  to  do,  and  he  said  "  Pukr-r-rup ! " 


The  Katydids'  Quarrel.  187 

so  loudly  that  all  stopped  talking  at  once. 
When  they  were  quiet  he  said :  "  We  will 
now  listen  to  a  duet,  '  Katy,'  by  the  two 
singers  who  are  up  the  tree.  All  please 
join  in  the  chorus."  So  it  was  begun 
again,  and  both  the  leaders  were  good- 
natured,  and  all  the  Katydids  below  joined 
in  with  "  did  or  did  n't,  did  or  did  n't,  did 
or  did  n't."  And  that  was  the  end  of  the 
quarrel. 


OF  THE  > 
REASON 


SUMMER  had  been  a  joy- 
ful time  in  the  meadow. 
It  had  been  a  busy  time, 
too,  and  from  morning  till 
night  the  chirping  and 
humming  of  the  happy 
people  there  had  mingled 
with  the  rustle  of  the 
leaves,  and  the  soft  "swish, 
swish,"  of  the  tall  grass,  as 
the  wind  passed  over  it. 

True,  there  had  been  a 
few  quarrels,  and  some  un- 
pleasant things  to  remem- 

188 


The  Last  Party  of  the  Season.     189 

ber,  but  these  little  people  were  wise 
enough  to  throw  away  all  the  sad  mem- 
ories and  keep  only  the  glad  ones.  And 
now  the  summer  was  over.  The  leaves 
of  the  forest  trees  were  turning  from  green 
to  scarlet,  orange,  and  brown.  The  beech 
and  hickory  nuts  were  only  waiting  for  a 
friendly  frost  to  open  their  outer  shells, 
and  loosen  their  stems,  so  that  they  could 
fall  to  the  earth. 

The  wind  was  cold  now,  and  the  meadow 
people  knew  that  the  time  had  come  to 
get  ready  for  winter.  One  chilly  Cater- 
pillar said  to  another,  "  Boo-oo !  How 
cold  it  is !  I  must  find  a  place  for  my 
cocoon.  Suppose  we  sleep  side  by  side  this 
winter,  swinging  on  the  same  bush  ?  " 

And  his  friend  replied:  "We  must  hurry 
then,  or  we  shall  be  too  old  and  stiff  to 
spin  good  ones." 

The  Garter  Snake  felt  sleepy  all  the 
time,  and  declared  that  in  a  few  days  he 
would  doze  off  until  spring. 


190      Among  the  Meadow  People. 

The  Tree  Frog  had  chosen  his  winter 
home  already,  and  the  Bees  were  making 
the  most  of  their  time  in  visiting  the  last 
fall  flowers,  and  gathering  every  bit  of 
honey  they  could  find  for  their  cold- 
weather  stock. 

The  last  eggs  had  been  laid,  and  the 
food  had  been  placed  beside  many  of 
them  for  the  babies  that  would  hatch  out 
in  the  spring.  Nothing  was  left  but  to  say 
"  Good-by,"  and  fall  asleep.  So  a  message 
was  sent  around  the  meadow  for  all  to 
come  to  a  farewell  party  under  the  elm  tree. 

Everybody  came,  and  all  who  could  sing 
did  so,  and  the  Crickets  and  Mosquitoes 
made  music  for  the  rest  to  dance  by. 

The  Tree  Frog  led  off  with  a  black  and 
yellow  Spider,  the  Garter  Snake  followed 
with  a  Potato  Bug,  and  all  the  other  crawl- 
ing people  joined  in  the  dance  on  the 
grass,  while  over  their  heads  the  Butter- 
flies and  other  light-winged  ones  fluttered 
to  and  fro  with  airy  grace. 


The  Last  Party 'of  the  Season.     191 

The  Snail  and  the  fat,  old  Cricket  had 
meant  to  look  on,  and  really  did  so,  for  a 
time,  from  a  warm  corner  by  the  tree,  but 
the  Cricket  could  n't  stand  it  to  not  join 
in  the  fun.  First,  his  eyes  gleamed,  his 
feelers  waved,  and  his  feet  kept  time  to 
the  music,  and,  when  a  frisky  young  Ant 
beckoned  to  him,  he  gave  a  great  leap 
and  danced  with  the  rest,  balancing,  jump- 
ing, and  circling  around  in  a  most  surpris- 
ing way. 

When  it  grew  dark,  the  Fireflies'  lights 
shone  like  tiny  stars,  and  the  dancing  went 
on  until  all  were  tired  and  ready  to  sing 
together  the  last  song  of  the  summer,  for 
on  the  morrow  they  would  go  to  rest. 
And  this  was  their  song : 


The  autumn  leaves  lying 
So  thick  on  the  ground, 

The  summer  Birds  flying 
The  meadow  around, 

Say,  "  Good-by." 


192        Among  the  Meadow  People. 

The  Seed  Babies  dropping 
Down  out  of  our  sight, 

The  Dragon-flies  stopping 
A  moment  in  flight, 

Say,  "  Good-by." 

The  red  Squirrels  bearing 
Their  nuts  to  the  tree, 

The  wild  Rabbits  caring 
For  babies  so  wee, 

Say,  "  Good-by." 

The  sunbeams  now  showing 

Are  hazy  and  pale, 
The  warm  breezes  blowing 

Have  changed  to  a  gale, 
So,  "  Good-by." 

The  season  for  working 

Is  passing  away. 
Both  playing  and  shirking 

Are  ended  to  day, 

So,  "Good-by." 

The  Garter  Snake  creeping 

So  softly  to  rest, 
The  fuzzy  Worms  sleeping 

Within  their  warm  nest, 
Say,  "  Good-by." 


The  Last  Party  of  the  Season.     193 

The  Honey  Bees  crawling 

Around  the  full  comb, 
The  tiny  Ants  calling 

Each  one  to  the  home, 
Say,  "  Good-by." 

We  Ve  ended  our  singing, 

Our  dancing,  and  play, 
And  Nature's  voice  ringing 

Now  tells  us  to  say 

Our  "  Good-by." 


THE   END. 


"Many  a  mother  and  teacher  will  accord  a  -vote 
of  thanks  to  the  author. ' ' 


Among  the  Meadow  People. 

STORIES  OF  FIELD  LIFE,  WRITTEN  FOR  THE  LITTLE  ONES. 

By  CLARA  D.  P1ERSON. 

Illustrated  by  F.  C.  GORDON. 
New  Edition,  i2mo,  194  pages,  cloth,  gilt  top,  $1.25 

"  One  of  the  daintiest  and  in  many  ways  most  attractive 
of  the  many  books  of  nature  study  which  the  past  year  has 
brought  forth." — Boston  Advertiser. 

"They  are  like  Mrs.  Gatty's  well-known  'Parables  from 
Nature,'  written  in  the  best  of  English,  as  fascinating  as  fairy 
tales,  and  yet  '  really  true,'  a  quality  which  we  all  know 
appeals  to  the  childish  mind." — N.  Y.  Evangelist. 

"We  have  seen  nothing  better  for  its  purpose,  and  hope 
many  a  teacher  of  kindergartens  and  many  a  mother  may 
avail  herself  of  the  privilege  of  using  these  little  tales."— 
N.  Y.  Christian  Advocate. 

"  It  will  be  a  great  advance  in  the  work  of  education  in  the 
school  and  the  home  when  such  books  are  more  generally 
utilized."— Zion's  Herald. 

"These  charming  stories  of  field  life  will  delight  many  a 
child  of  kindergarten  age  ;  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  older 
brothers  and  sisters  will  also  want  to  claim  a  share  in  them." 
— Christian  Register. 

Sent  by  mail,  post-paid,  on  receipt  of  price. 

E.  P.  BUTTON  &  CO.,  Publishers, 
31  West  23d  Street New  York. 


Among  the  Forest  People 

By  CLARA  D.  PIERSON 

Illustrated  by  F.  C.  GORDON 
lamo,  220  pages,  cloth,  gilt  top        •        •        $1.25 


"  A  thoroughly  charming  book  for  the  little  people,  which 
grown  folks  can  read,  also,  with  many  a  satisfied  chuckle  at 
its  slily  insinuated  '  morals,'  and  inimitable  mingling  of  human 
sentiments  and  affairs  in  the  wild  life  of  '  the  Forest  People.' 
The  illustrations  have  really  artistic  value  ;  thoroughly  well 
done,  with  a  pleasing  combination  of  the  conventional  in  form 
and  light  and  shade,  they  are  also  clever  and  accurate  in 
drawing." — Living  Church. 

"A  most  charming  series  of  stories  for  children — yes,  and 
for  children  of  all  ages,  both  young  and  old — is  given  us  in  the 
volume  before  us.  No  one  can  read  these  realistic  conver- 
sations of  the  little  creatures  of  the  wood  without  being  most 
tenderly  drawn  toward  them,  and  each  story  teaches  many 
entertaining  facts  regarding  the  lives  and  habits  of  these  little 
people.  Mothers  and  teachers  must  welcome  this  book  most 
cordially.  One  cannot  speak  too  strongly  in  praise  of  it." — 
Boston  Transcript. 

"  I  declare  I  really  feel  tempted  to  adopt  or  borrow  a  nice 
little  girl  of  six  or  seven,  just  for  the  pleasure  of  reading  this 
perfect  book  to  her  while  she  snuggles  down  in  my  lap." 

—KATE  SANBORN. 

"The  telling  is  conceived  with  decided  originality." 

— Outlook. 

"  There  has  not  been  such  a  book  for  many  a  year,  and  it 
makes  the  old  folks  long  to  be  young  again." — N.  Y.  Observer. 

"  Is  an  utterly  delightful  book  for  the  little  folk." 

— Interior. 

Sent  by  mail,  post-paid,  on  receipt  of  price 

E.  P.  DUTTON  &  CO.,  Publishers 
31  West  23d  Street       .......      New  York 


Among  the  Farmyard  People 

By  CLARA  D.  PIERSON 

Illustrated  by  F.  C.  GORDON 
i2mo,  256  pages,  cloth,  gilt  top,  $1.25 

"The  very  pretty  stories  of  animal  life,  'Among  the 
Forest  People,'  and  '  Among  the  Meadow  People,'  are  con- 
tinued in  Clara  D.  Pierson's  '  Among  the  Farmyard  People.' 
To  those  who  know  the  earlier  volumes,  this  needs  no  intro- 
duetion  or  praise.  To  those  who  may  still  have  that  pleasure 
in  store,  we  can  commend  heartily  these  tenderly  realistic 
conversations,  which  show  a  sympathetic  knowledge  at  once 
of  animals  and  of  children,  who  will  be  amused  and  taught 
and  edified  by  these  dainty  little  tales  that  never  obtrude  the 
always  healthy  moral  of  this  genuine  Child's  Book  of  Nature." 
— Churchman. 

"  They  will  be  found  valuable  for  use  by  mothers  and  kin- 
dergarten teachers.  The  beautiful  illustrations  furnished  by 
F.  C.  Gordon  are  distinctively  instructive.  Altogether  the 
book  is  one  of  the  most  desirable  works  that  can  be  found  to 
train  the  child's  imagination,  affection,  and  powers  of  obser- 
vation."— Boston  Beacon. 

' '  We  heartily  recommend  the  book  for  its  thoroughly 
healthy  tone,  far  better  adapted  to  a  sweet  and  simple  child- 
hood than  much  of  the  rather  stimulating  juvenile  literature 
of  the  day." — N.  Y.  Commercial  Advertiser. 

' '  A  helpful  book  for  young  readers,  teaching  first  lessons 
in  natural  history,  and  inculcating  principles  of  love  for  ani- 
mals."— Philadelphia  Evening  Telegram. 

"  A  charming  and  pretty  book  for  young  children.  It  will 
help  them  to  observe,  and  it  will  also  help  them  to  think. 
Nearly  every  story  ends  with  something  unsaid,  which  the  nurs- 
ery people  are  to  think  out  for  themselves." — Church  Standard. 

Sent  by  mail,  post-paid,  on  receipt  of  price 

E.  P.  DUTTON  &  CO.,  Publishers 
31  West  aad  Street       -       - New  York 


Among  the  Pond  People 

By  CLARA  D.  PIERSON 

With  12  full- page  illustrations  by  F.  C.  GORDON 
tamo,  aaa  pages,  cloth,  gilt  top       -       -       $1.25 


This  last  book  of  Mrs.  Pierson's  has  all  the  charm  of  the 
earlier  volumes.  The  adventures  of  Mother  Eel,  the  Playful 
Muskrat,  the  Snappy  Snapping  Turtle,  and  the  other  Pond 
People,  will  be  eagerly  followed  by  children,  whether  they 
are  naturalists  or  ordinary  readers.  The  fact  that  one  does 
not  continually  feel  that  she  is  writing  for  the  purpose  of  in- 
structing the  young,  gives  Mrs.  Pierson  her  hold  on  so  many 
boys  and  girls.  The  books  teach  a  great  many  lessons,  but 
one  does  not  feel  that  the  author  is  lying  in  wait  to  enlighten 
the  unwary  youngster. 

"  In  it,  as  in  the  old  Greek  comedies,  the  frogs  have  a  voice 
and  speak  their  little  orations  and  crack  their  jokes  and  play 
their  pranks.  The  '  science '  is  elementary  but  the  entertain- 
ment genuine,  and  the  little  people  to  whom  it  is  read  will 
ever  cherish  a  kindly  interest  in  the  denizens  of  the  ponds 
and  their  floral  homes  and  environments." — Interior. 

"  One  lays  down  the  book  with  quickened  sympathy  for 
everything  that  crawls  and  creeps  and  swims." — Critic. 

"  The  Pond  People  are  quite  as  real  and  as  fascinating  as 
were  the  Meadow  People  and  the  Barnyard  People  of  pre- 
vious books.  They  are  genuine  stories,  full  of  a  humor  that 
will  appeal  to  boys  and  girls,  yet  cleverly  conveying  infor- 
mation about  the  frogs,  turtles,  minnows,  etc.,  and  often  sug- 
gesting a  moral  in  a  delicate  manner  which  no  child  could 
resent. " — Congregationalist. 

"  In  its  way  the  work  is  very  daintily  done." — Churchman. 


Sent  by  mail,  post-paid,  on  receipt  of  price 
E.  P.  BUTTON  &  CO.,  Publishers 

West  23d  Street       .......       New  York 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


REC'D  LD-URl 
Utt  JAN  2  9  1973 

JAN  1  9  1973 

REffD  LD-UWI 

H*    JAN    6 
DEC  12 1974 


197S 


Form  L9-30m-ll,'58(.8268s4)444 


DO  NOT    REMOVE 
THIS  BOOK  CARDli 


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University  Research  Library 


